Oberth maneuver around the sun tagged posts

Slingshotting Around the Sun would make a Spacecraft the Fastest Ever

Top: Image of the test set-up for the thermal shield.
Credit – Benkoski et al.
Bottom: Graphic depicting the development path for the solar thermal propulsion system.
Credit – Benkoski et al.

NASA is very interested in developing a propulsion method to allow spacecraft to go faster. We’ve reported several times on different ideas to support that goal, and most of the more successful have utilized the sun’s gravity well, typically by slingshotting around it, as is commonly done with Jupiter currently.

But, there are still significant hurdles when doing so, not the least of which is the energy radiating from the sun simply vaporizing anything that gets close enough to utilize a gravity assist...

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