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A solar gravitational lens will be humanity's most powerful telescope (2022)

(phys.org)
197 points amichail | 1 comments | 15 Oct 24 11:52 UTC | HN request time: 1.534s | source
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cryptoz ◴[17 Oct 24 00:08 UTC] No.41865171[source]▶
I’ve put this in my “other ideas” section in YC applications for a couple rounds now. No luck yet.

Would love to send 1,000 probes to 550AU+ out in order to observe 1,000+ ‘nearby’ exoplanets, hopefully find life, make contact, start trade…haha. Or otherwise defend the solar system from invaders that are perhaps already on the way!

Maybe YC rejects me specifically because I put that there…hm.

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1. Cthulhu_ ◴[17 Oct 24 07:59 UTC] No.41867398[source]▶
I mean it's a great idea and all and probably not original, but it needs billions if not more in new spacecraft that can travel 3-4x as far as the furthest human-made object is (Voyagers) in a reasonable time, a scalable launch system that can launch the probes (1000x payload + fuel with the delta-V required to get there), probes that go to the destination, and a new almost interstellar communications network to get the data and commands there and back again.

Basically your idea would be the biggest, most expensive and longest undertaking in space exploration system, ever. I can see why investors would be a bit hesitant about that.