Majestic_Pitch_1803 t1_jd5osmc wrote
Reply to comment by FallenShadeslayer in Couldn’t we land on an asteroid that is passing through our solar system and use that as a vessel for interstellar travel? by [deleted]
Lmao, haven’t we landed a probe on an asteroid before?
scorpyo72 t1_jd5qt2s wrote
We have, but you're talking about interstellar (as in between the stars, or solar system to solar system) travel. The majority of the asteroids we have access to are locked up in the belt between Mars and Jupiter. We occasionally see comets, but they're not stable enough to sustain is, and then we have the forementioned need to get going at least as far as it is.
Something like ʻOumuamua, the "interstellar" object that moved through our solar system a few years back would be more on track with what you're thinking of. But that doesn't mean we could catch it. ʻOumuamua was 'tumbling' , as in it didn't have a fixed axis we could really locate to even think about trying to run up alongside it.
Majestic_Pitch_1803 t1_jd5r9xl wrote
Bennu was going 67,000km/h
Oum is something like 20,000km/h faster.
We can’t do it yet.
Yet.
scorpyo72 t1_jd5rl4k wrote
Well, I'll just live out the rest of my life over here while you're waiting for another interstellar object to pass by our planet, in our lifetime.
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