Space & Astronomy

Scientists propose audacious mission to catch up to 3I/ATLAS

By T.K. Randall
February 22, 2026

Image: AI-generated (Midjourney) One of last year's biggest ongoing stories on this site was that of a mysterious interstellar object discovered traveling through our solar system.

Known as 3I/ATLAS, it was later determined to be a comet from another solar system.

At the time, some people - including Harvard's Prof Avi Loeb - put forward the notion that the object was some sort of extraterrestrial platform that had been sent to visit the Earth.

While we certainly haven't seen any evidence of this (3I/ATLAS has now passed us by), there are still many unanswered questions about it - enough to justify sending a spacecraft to investigate.

Trouble is, with the object now heading away from us and with no mission ready to go, it had seemed doubtful that - with today's technology at least - it would be possible to catch up with it.Now, though, scientists have proposed a bold new plan for a spacecraft that would launch in 2035 before using a risky rocket boost maneuver to build up enough speed to intercept 3I/ATLAS.

This method, known as the Oberth effect, would work in this case by taking advantage of the Sun's gravity, but would involve getting perilously close to the star in the process.

Even if the spacecraft survived and obtained the speed increase needed, it would still take 50 years to actually reach 3I/ATLAS.

That's a long time to wait - but it would eventually get there.

Whether such a mission will actually be attempted, however, remains to be seen.

Source: Space.com

Tags: Interstellar