We have the means today to fly a spacecraft by an interstellar object visiting our solar system, a new study concludes — and we could have done it already with comet 3I/ATLAS.

Flyby reconnaissance of interstellar objects is "feasible and affordable," scientists with the Southwest Research Institute (SWRI), who led the study, said in a statement on Wednesday (Sept. 3).

"The trajectory of 3I/ATLAS is within the interceptable range of the mission we designed," Matthew Freeman, the study project manager and director of space instrumentation at SWRI, said in the statement.

Unfortunately, however, getting a probe into orbit around objects like 3I/ATLAS for more detailed study isn't currently possible, given how fast such visitors move relative to bodies native to our solar system. Interstella

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