Adam Hibberd
Wouldn’t you like an answer to the question:
What is ‘Oumuamua?
There have been many theories, but there is no real consensus.
The only way to answer this would be to send a spacecraft to observe ‘Oumuamua in situ but the total lack of will-power to get this question answered, in my view, attests to the folly of humanity.
It seems that everyone has their own opinion, some have explored these in detail, writing their theories up in science papers. It would seem that many have put their scientific reputations on the line with their theories and therefore do not wish to be proven wrong.
Let us leave personal pride aside for the moment. ‘Oumuamua is an anomaly not so much in any one singular aspect but in the unlikely coincidence of many particular aspects. This can be debated and maybe by some totally denied, but in my view this would be an act of self-deception.
But let us assume that ‘Oumuamua is indeed just a weathered piece of space rock, what else could be achieved by a mission?
Well this would inevitably entail travel to the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM). It would therefore be humanity’s first purposeful attempt at interstellar travel with all the benefits this would bring, like for example, the various advantages of observing our own Solar System from an extrasolar perspective. As many of you know the Intersellar Probe concept being proposed by the JHU APL, is concerned with sending a spacecraft into the VLISM to conduct trail-blazing research, this being precisely one of the outcomes of a mission to ‘Oumuamua.
There would also be various benefits to the Breakthrough Starshot Initiative of such a mission, see a possible architecture below:
1) Launch a mission (in 2030-2033) with chem. prop., exploiting a Jupiter Oberth (a Solar Oberth would require too much R & D), and set it off in the best-estimate direction of 'Oumuamua. This would arrive late 2040/early 2050 (estimate).
2) With the emphasis of investment in laser sail infrastructure and tech., we should begin a co-ordinated effort to send a swarm of laser sails towards 'Oumuamua - with a launch in the '30s or '40s - in order to find it in interstellar space and compute its trajectory exactly.
3) Transmit this data on 'Oumuamua's trajectory back to Earth.
4) Ground would then transmit the necessary target data to the s/c in (1), so that it can then make appropriate adjustments to its path to ensure intercept of the target.
5) (1) would then transmit the data concerning 'Oumuamua intercept back to Earth.
Note that if step (2) cannot be accomplished (which impacts on (3)-(5)), then we still have an interstellar mission (like the one being proposed by JHU APL) in the form of (1), save that there would be NO 'Oumuamua intercept involved.
Time for humanity to make a decision: do we want to push back the frontiers of knowledge and explore the wonderful Universe which surrounds us, or are we going to hide away and retreat into the safety of ignorance?