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xkcd #3310: Rejected Space Mission Profiles (lemmy.nz)
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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.

Transcript:

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

explainxkcd for #3310

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[-] charokol@lemmy.zip 3 points 3 hours ago

Is there a reason the Pluto flyby would keep going out into space instead of attempting to return? (other than time considerations)

[-] DickFiasco@sh.itjust.works 5 points 2 hours ago

It would be really difficult to design a spacecraft to go to Pluto and then return. You'd have to carry enough fuel to come to a stop at Pluto, then reverse back to Earth, then come to a stop at Earth. The extra fuel adds up quick because the more you carry, the more you need. A ship that could carry enough fuel for a round trip would be incredibly large and would have to be constructed in orbit rather than on the surface of the Earth.

You could reduce fuel requirements somewhat by going slower, but it already takes so long to get to Pluto that you'd soon be limited by human life expectancy.

[-] tacosanonymous@lemmy.blahaj.zone 3 points 2 hours ago

So, a lot of the turnaround stuff for things like noon missions is done by using the gravity well of the planet and swinging back.

Apparently, the amount of nutrients and fuel required for even one person to be in space for a decade (assuming they’d live that long) and go that far would be enough to make the ship massive. At least double it if it you want to make it back.

To change the delta v of that fatty to turn around at Pluto would be an extra level of insanity. Also, there’d be like, zero boost there and that leg of the trip would be horrendous.

[-] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 20 points 5 hours ago

The funniest thing about a crewed mission to Pluto, in my opinion, is that it would take something like a decade to get there. Having a living human past Pluto's orbit would be a huge achievement. Getting them back alive? More than doubly so.

[-] ryrybang@lemmy.world 11 points 4 hours ago

I have a few suggestions for candidate ~~prisoners~~ astronauts for this mission.

[-] digdig@piefed.social 2 points 5 hours ago
[-] cannedtuna@lemmy.world 7 points 5 hours ago

[-] digdig@piefed.social 1 points 5 hours ago

I don't care, Pluto deserves to be a Planet. Classification be dammed.

Maybe if we find some water on it, we can get the Orange one to visit and name the water.

[-] Remember_the_tooth@lemmy.world 1 points 4 hours ago

Don't know why you got downvoted over this. I love Pluto, too. I don't think it's a planet, but I'm not going to get fighty over it. For most of us, it's a semantics issues. I don't think I've actually encountered someone arguing that Pluto has, in fact, cleared it's orbit despite evidence to the contrary. Most of us don't care about that. Cosmologists do, though. They get to make the terms for the progress of science, which is important, but it really doesn't make sense to me to engage in any kind of personal conflict over academic hair splitting.

[-] celeste@kbin.earth 31 points 7 hours ago

need a voyager 2 orbiter orbiter so the orbiter doesn't get lonely when voyager 2 ignores it

[-] Klear@piefed.world 10 points 6 hours ago

Also a crewed Pluto flyby orbiter.

[-] digdig@piefed.social 0 points 5 hours ago

Perhaps Voyager 3 as 2 happened already.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qYNIsgDrIRE

Although you might need to slingshot of Jupiter and Saturn at the right time.

It amazes me how our greatest minds were able to work this out with the technology and understanding they had.

[-] hemko@lemmy.dbzer0.com 3 points 4 hours ago

Someone wrote a paper about sample return mission to Pluto

https://www.scribd.com/document/92881455/MITEE-Nuclear-Engine-for-Mission-Pluto

[-] southsamurai@sh.itjust.works 1 points 3 hours ago

I want to run the remote control of the Jupiter rover. It would be just like running my old traxxas stampede rock climbing next to a farm pond

this post was submitted on 12 Oct 2026
216 points (99.1% liked)

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