Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
Just thought I'd share a cool video below that was recently posted by the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory (JHUAPL)...which conducted a study for NASA last year about an Interstellar Probe (IP) mission that could launch to the cosmos as soon as 2036.
New articles such as this one have just been published about IP. One tidbit that remains the same is that the spacecraft would travel at a velocity of 7.2 Astronomical Units (the Earth is 1 Astronomical Unit, or 93 million miles, from the Sun) a year during its journey out of our solar system. Also, this successor to the Pioneer, Voyager and New Horizons robotic probes—as far as JHUAPL is concerned—would ideally depart from Earth aboard a Block 2 variant of the Space Launch System rocket...which will hopefully make its first flight on Artemis 1 later next month.
It will still take at least two years before we find out if NASA gives this historic and intriguing mission the greenlight. The National Academy of Sciences will unveil its next Solar and Space Physics Decadal Survey in 2024, with the IP mission one of the projects currently under review by this study.
Here's hoping that within the next fifteen years, humanity will take the next steps of its journey through interstellar space...eventually joining New Horizons in its exploration of the abyss while the twin Voyager probes fall silent for the final time. Carry on.
EDIT (12:13 PM, PDT): Rest In Peace, Bill Russell. The NBA legend—who won 11 championships as a player with the Boston Celtics—passed away today. He was 88.
EDIT #2 (3:53 PM, PDT): Rest In Peace, Nichelle Nichols. Not only did she play Lt. Uhura in the original Star Trek TV series, but Nichols was also a prominent space advocate who worked with NASA to inspire other women and people of color to apply to become astronauts. She was 89.
NASA
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