Future deep space missions might not take as long as you’d think. Researchers have discovered a Solar System “superhighway” network of routes that would let probes and other spacecraft travel outward at quicker pace. Asteroids near Jupiter, for example, could reach Neptune’s distance in less than 10 years and 100AU (about three times Neptune’s distance from the Sun) in 100 years. Spacecraft would theoretically be faster.

Scientists found the routes by computing how “millions” of Solar System orbits fit inside known space manifolds, or arch structures that extend from the asteroid belt.

Source: Engadget

Powered by NewsAPI.org