3 papers
astro-ph.IM2026
High-temperature photovoltaics for solar-electric Oberth maneuvers: ton-class payload feasibility for interstellar-precursor missions
Nadim Maraqten, Willem van Lynden, Carlos Gómez de Olea Ballester +1
In-situ exploration beyond the giant planets remains rare because timely Solar System escape demands very high specific orbital energy, which existing concepts typically achieve on…
astro-ph.EP2026
Is the Dark Comet 1998 KY the Spacecraft Phobos 1?
Adam Hibberd, Adam Crowl, Carlos Gómez de Olea Ballester +1
Since the discovery of new kinds of celestial bodies known as , scientists have speculated about their ontology. A curious hybrid of comet and asteroid, these objects…
astro-ph.EP2025
3I/ATLAS (C/2025 N1): Direct Spacecraft Exploration of a Possible Relic of Planetary Formation at "Cosmic Noon"
T. Marshall Eubanks, Bruce G. Bills, Adam Hibberd +7
The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS (also C/2025 N1 (ATLAS), henceforth, 3I), discovered by the ATLAS Chile telescope on 2025 July 1, was rapidly revealed to be the third known inters…