The detection of the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS in July produced quite the stir in the scientific community. This comet is the third interstellar object (ISO) to pass through the Solar System, the previous two being 1I/’Oumuamua and 2I/Borisov, which arrived in 2017 and 2019, respectively. Like its predecessors, the arrival of 3I/ATLAS highlighted just how common these objects are and inspired mission concepts for studying them up close. The latest comes from the Southwest Research Institute (SwRI), where a team has developed a mission study for a spacecraft that could perform a flyby with 3I/ATLAS.

Asteroids and comets are essentially material left over from the formation of the Solar System roughly 4.6 billion years ago. The study of ISOs could therefore tell us a lot about what conditions are like in other star systems without having to send missions to explore them. Using the recent discovery of 3I/ATLAS as a basis, the SwRI determined that this latest ISO could have been intercepted and observed by their proposed spacecraft. Relying on previous ISO detections, their internally funded SwRI study also lays out the design, scientific objectives, payload, and key requirements for such a mission.

The study was led by Dr. Alan Stern, a planetary scientist and the SwRI Associate Vice President. Stern is well-known for being the Principal Investigator of the New Horizons mission, which made the first flyby in history with Pluto in July 2015. He and his SwRI colleagues previously conducted a concept study for an Interstellar Object Explorer (IOE), detailed in a paper released in February 2024. With the detection of 3I/ATLAS a little over a year and a half later, he and his colleagues are once again exploring how future missions might intercept and study ISOs. Their latest proposal, said Stern, is for an Interstellar Comet Explorer (ICE):

These new kinds of objects offer humankind the first feasible opportunity to explore bodies formed in other star systems closely. An ISC flyby could give unprecedented insights into these objects’ composition, structure, and properties, and it would significantly expand our understanding of solid body formation processes in other star systems.

Comet 3I/ATLAS as observed soon after its discovery. Credit: NASA/ESA/UCLA/MPS

One of the main constraints of their study was that the spacecraft would not be able to orbit a future ISO owing to the hyperbolic trajectories and velocities involved. However, their analysis showed that a flyby reconnaissance mission was feasible, affordable, and would provide immense scientific returns. To determine trajectory options for the mission, the team relied on SwRI-developed software that simulates a population of ISCs, then calculates the minimum energy trajectory from Earth to intercept each simulated comet.

According to SwRI orbital mechanics expert, Dr. Mark Tapley, the simulations showed that a low-energy rendezvous was possible. They also indicated that the ICE would require less launch velocity and in-flight trajectory changes than many robotic missions currently exploring the Solar System. “The very encouraging thing about the appearance of 3I/ATLAS is that it further strengthens the case that our study for an ISC mission made,” he said. “We demonstrated that it doesn’t take anything harder than the technologies and launch performance like missions that NASA has already flown to encounter these interstellar comets.”

Needless to say, the scientific returns of such a mission would be immense. Detailed data on the ISC’s composition would provide a wealth of information about its formation and evolution, providing insight into its system of origin and the interstellar medium. As the ISC nears the Sun, it will form a large tail as water and other frozen volatiles sublimate, triggering outgassing and the formation of a coma. The spacecraft could examine this coma using spectrometers to learn what lies beneath the ISC’s icy surface. Said SwRI’s Matthew Freeman, the study’s project manager:

The trajectory of 3I/ATLAS is within the interceptable range of the mission we designed, and the scientific observations made during such a flyby would be groundbreaking. The proposed mission would be a high-speed, head-on flyby that would collect a large amount of valuable data and could also serve as a model for future missions to other ISCs.

Studies have shown that about seven ISOs pass through the inner Solar System annually, though some models place that number higher. These same studies showed that as many as 10,000 ISOs pass inside Neptune’s orbit annually, some of which are captured by the Solar System’s gravity and stay here. As new facilities like the Vera Rubin Observatory conduct surveys that reveal tens of thousands of objects, astronomers expect to find many more ISOs.

Further Reading: SwRI

The mob that crashed an SUV through the front door of Kim Hung Jewelry in San José arrived in multiple vehicles and carried out their smash-and-grab robbery in less than a minute.

The masked robbers stormed through the shattered storefront, brandishing hammers, at least one gun and trash bags to haul away the merchandise, according to police.

The brazen daylight heist, which was caught on video, prompted an angry response from lawmakers, public safety advocates and Vietnamese community leaders who called for increased law enforcement resources to combat organized crime rings. It has also forced the Vietnamese family running the jewelry story to consider abandoning the business.

“This happens way too often, this doesn’t have to happen,” said Tuan Ngo, an organizer with a public safety advocacy group called Asians Unite.

Moments before the robbery Friday, the 88-year-old store owner and his adult son were getting ready to close the family business on Aborn Road in the nondescript strip mall. They stowed away most of their jewelry into a safe just after 2 p.m., according to relatives. That’s when a gray SUV backed into a parking spot outside and jumped the curb, crashing into the front entrance.

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The gray Ford Explorer crumbled a metal security gate and shoved a long display case back several feet. In surveillance video from inside the store, the father and son are seen jumping at the loud crash. The father appeared stunned, while the son runs away from the gnarled metal and broken glass. Relatives declined to identify the father and son for fear of retaliation from the robbers.

After a brief pause, the SUV pulled away and the mob stormed in through the gaping maw that was once the front door. The group wore knit caps, gloves, masks and hooded sweaters.

“Everybody get the f— down!” one of the suspects shouted, according to surveillance video.

The son fell to the floor and the father cried out as the masked thieves smashed display cases with hammers. One hooded robber grabbed an object out of the store owner’s hands and another shoved the elderly man to the floor.

At one point, a masked suspect appeared to point a handgun at the son. The group raced around the store, gathering items and dropping them into trash bags. The entire robbery unfolded in about 40 seconds, according to the surveillance video shared with The Times.

The group ran outside and jumped into at least four vehicles waiting in the parking lot. They left behind the SUV used to smash into the storefront.

The San José Police Department said the agency has no information to release about the suspects and the case is being investigated by the robbery unit.

The store owner’s niece, Linh, said her uncle is afraid, traumatized and uncertain whether he wants to keep the family business open. Linh declined to give her last name out of concern for her safety.

“We just don’t know if there will be a business there anymore,” she said. She said she feels “traumatized, angry, bad, sad.”

Linh said her uncle arrived in California over 40 years ago from South Vietnam and raised his family in and around San José.

“He’s a family man [who loves] his family,” Linh said.

She arrived at the store about 10 minutes after the robbery.

“He was very scared. He just kept speaking in Vietnamese,” Linh said. “Ối giời ơi, Ối giời ơi. Oh my god, oh my god.”

She noticed her uncle’s feet were bloodied from walking on broken glass in sandals and he was staring off into the distance and appeared to be in a fog. His voice was uneven and he wouldn’t say more than a few words at a time, she said. After a visit to a hospital, relatives learned that the elderly man had suffered a stroke. He spent the weekend in the hospital and by Wednesday the family said that he was recuperating at home.

Although a recent study from financial tech company SmartAsset ranked San José as one of the nation’s safest major cities, the robbery drew angry condemnations and calls for increased law enforcement.

The Vietnamese community rallied outside the jewelry store Tuesday evening, calling for better policing and more funding for public safety. They held signs that say “End Smash & Grab” and that call for the state to implement tougher penalties for criminals as approved by voters in November under Proposition 36.

Mayor Matt Mahan said San José is angry about the state of crime and acknowledged that the surveillance video of the smash-and-grab robbery “made his blood boil.”

Public safety advocacy groups have seized on the moment to ask state legislators and Gov. Gavin Newsom to increase policing and install more license plate readers in and around the Bay Area. The Coalition for Community Engagement, a group that supported the 2024 recall of Oakland’s mayor and Alameda County’s district attorney, pointed to the San José smash-and-grab as another example of crime run rampant.

“These are organized crime rings that operate around California. It was just San José’s turn on the list,” said Coalition for Community Engagement founder Edward Escobar.

Linh, the store owner’s niece, said her family is not asking for donations for her uncle’s store or his recovery.

“We just only are asking for prayer and wishes for him to get better,” she said. “We want everybody to know about the safety of our businesses right now.”