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submitted 1 day ago by xkcdbot@lemmy.world to c/xkcd@lemmy.world

xkcd #3310: Rejected Space Mission Profiles

Title text:

Although NASA agreed that Voyager 2 'seemed lonely' they decided against launching a companion orbiter mission after further measurements indicated that the spacecraft actually preferred the peace and quiet.

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Source: https://xkcd.com/3310/

explainxkcd for #3310

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[-] kunaltyagi@programming.dev 7 points 21 hours ago

Not really. A gravity assist can be used to turn around the craft.

However, the craft needs to be slow (Pluto gravity is low) to turn around via assisted (via ion engine for eg) gravity assist. Moreover, it's near impossible to find a path that enables gravity assist to and from Pluto. Just one lineup of planets is rare, let alone 2 back to back

this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2026
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