A time capsule shot into space with a trajectory that sends it to orbits some entity for hundreds of years before escaping the gravity of that entity to be shot back towards Earth for future society to receive.
Posted by iInciteArguments@reddit | CrazyIdeas | View on Reddit | 10 comments
I don't even know if such a trajectory exists but that would be pretty cool.
For example shooting a time capsule towards Mars, where it orbits around it for 500 years and because we sent it so precisely, after some time it escapes the orbit back toward Earth.
jaspersgroove@reddit
I’ve got a better idea.
Pay me to launch the time capsule, and then I’ll tell you I launched it, and then in 500 years you can open this envelope that will tell you where it landed.
supfood@reddit
You might be able to do 10 years or so, but a hundred years needs either and engine or mid course correction, which kind of defeats the purpose
FredOfMBOX@reddit
I wonder if the three body problem precludes calculating such an orbit. Over 500 years, effects of gravity from the sun, the moons of the planet, and other planets with nearby orbits would all have an effect on the satellite’s orbit, and could be more than our approximations could handle. At the minimum, we’d need some extra fuel that will last 500 years to do some corrections.
Kflynn1337@reddit
I believe that's actually been done... About ten years ago there was a company saying they were going to shoot a capsule on a 50,000 year long comet-like orbit, I don't know if they ever actually launched it though.
Orangeshowergal@reddit
Who’s to say we didn’t do this already, and that was the asteroid that killed the dinosaurs?
Remarkable_Coast_214@reddit
because then it wouldn't have been "we" who sent it but the dinosaurs
Orangeshowergal@reddit
How do you know there wasn’t a civilization that existed 500 million years ago? Sent out a long returning gift… comes back 66 million years ago and causes significant damage. Long time later here we are. We just say it was a meteor because we have no reason to think otherwise.
atom644@reddit
KEO
mgarr_aha@reddit
To do that, it would need an engine to enter and exit orbit around the other planet. It would be simpler to put it in e.g. a 4.9505 year eccentric solar orbit so it encounters Earth again after 101 orbits but not earlier.
Turbulent-Name-8349@reddit
I like that. Yes it can be done. Many unusual orbits can be stable for hundreds of years before passing near a Lagranguan point that brings it back.