this post was submitted on 13 Sep 2024
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Science Memes

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[–] Bumblefumble@lemm.ee 53 points 1 month ago (3 children)

It's definitely harder to decay the orbit into the sun directly than it is to get to escape velocity. But to play devil's advocate, there is probably a way to get them into the sun while being a similar cost to escape velocity. All you need to do is burn prograde to a super high aphelion, ride all the way out there to Pluto or whatever and then do a small retrograde burn to bring your perihelion inside the sun's photosphere. When you then get back towards the sun years later you would slam into it with a sick velocity that I think would be worth the decades-long wait.

[–] SARGE@startrek.website 22 points 1 month ago (3 children)

This definitely reads like one of my KSP exploits...

[–] dQw4w9WgXcQ@lemm.ee 17 points 1 month ago

Gravity assist with one of the larger planets to make a very narrow orbit seems to be the most efficient way. But you need the planets to align correctly to have an efficient route.

"I'll launch you into the sun once there is an appropriate transfer window to Jupiter" just doesn't have the same ring to it.

[–] JackbyDev@programming.dev 3 points 1 month ago

I remember there was a trick where you could transfer fuel around to move your center of gravity then rotate the ship.

[–] BurningRiver 2 points 1 month ago

I scrolled down specifically looking for a KSP comment, thank you.

[–] vithigar@lemmy.ca 14 points 1 month ago* (last edited 1 month ago)

Alternatively you do like the Parker Solar Probe and do 7 Venus flybys, bleeding off a little speed each time with an inverse gravity assist.

[–] Windshear@lemmy.ca 5 points 1 month ago (1 children)

Not an expert, but I've read it's easiest to use jupiter to bleed off enough velocity to fall into our sun.

[–] Bumblefumble@lemm.ee 4 points 1 month ago

Yeah it probably is, my comment was really about raw deltaV numbers without using gravity assists.