| This looks like scenario B from this paper: https://arxiv.org/pdf/1902.04935.pdf Mission E-DSM-E-J-6SR-1I (15.3 km/s of delta v required): (2030-06-09) Launch from Earth
(2031-11-05) Deep Space Maneuver at 3.2 AU
(2033-04-17) Earth return
(2034-07-12) Jupiter arrival
(2036-02-24) 6 solar radii
(2052-07-29) 'Oumuamua arrival
A Solar Oberth mission requires a heat shield, which takes up weight that can be used for other payload. It's also riskier. There are also proposals for other mission profiles that only use the Jupiter Oberth, but these would either require more delta v or more inner planet assists, and so could take longer. Example: https://arxiv.org/pdf/2201.04240.pdfMission V-E-DSM-E-J with 2028 launch date, 26 years flight duration, 15.8 km/s of delta v required. Animation: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qrCUsAGZjUw Note that delta v does not necessarily imply anything about the final spacecraft velocity. Rather, it's indicative how much thrust you need throughout the mission. So how much delta v you have at your disposal is a function of what kind of rocket(s) you have and how much propellant you have. And how far you can get with a certain delta v budget depends on how smartly you use it. To get the most bang for your buck, you fire your rockets at strategic locations in your orbit. This is where the physics behind Oberth maneuver come in: It's most efficient to gain kinetic energy at periapsis, when you are travelling the fastest. This is because kinetic energy is 1/2 mv^2. The greater kinetic energy will take you farther out of the gravity well than if you fired your engines at a lower velocity. |
Or to put it another way... how long will it have to gather data?