Space missions outside the solar system to exploit the gravitational lens of the Sun

Details Space missions outside the solar system to exploit the gravitational lens of the Sun Space missions outside the solar system to exploit the gravitational lens of the Sun

Feb 1994

adsabs.harvard.edu/cgi-bin/nph-data_query?bibcode=1994jbis...47...45m&link_type=abstract

British Interplanetary Society, Journal (ISSN 0007-094X), vol. 47, no. 2, p. 45-52

Astronomy and Astrophysics

Astronomy

Exploitation, Gravitational Lenses, Interstellar Space, Mission Planning, Space Missions, Sun, Gravitational Waves, Project Seti, Radio Astronomy, Stellar Parallax

Scientific paper

The gravitational lens of the Sun, predicted by general relativity, provides huge antenna gains for radio waves grazing the solar surface. At the hydrogen frequency of 1420 MHz, the gain equals 57 dB. Adding the gain of a 12-meter spacecraft antenna, the total gains is about 100 dB. Exceptional angular resolutions, of the order of one millionth of an arcsecond, can be achieved also. However, the minimal distance between the Sun and lens 'focus' is 550 AU (3 light days) and any distance beyond this yields the same again. A spacecraft may thus travel and operate from 550 to 1000 AU, where the distorting effects of the solar corona are increasingly reduced. This 550 AU distance is much less than the 1000 AU planned to be reached by the JPL-designed TAU (Thousand Astronomical Units) mission, yet a space mission to 550 AU still poses major engineering problems. A 12-meter inflatable parabolic antenna, such as QUASAT (studied by Aeritalia for ESA in 1988), might reach 550 AU in thirty years or less if electrically propelled. In May 1993, this author submitted a formal Proposal to ESA to have the industrial Phase-A study of the FOCAL spacecraft funded. As for the spacecraft launch direction, it was suggested: Scenario 1: launch towards the galactic anticenter to provide radio magnification of the galactic center valuable in astrophysics (black hole there?). This is the ASTROFOCAL mission. Scenario 2: launch towards galactic longitude 270 deg, to intensify possible signals reaching us from other civilizations in the Galaxy located near the galactic longitude 90 deg (the privileged direction in which to look if the 'Galactic Belt of Life' exists). This is the SETIFOCAL mission. Scenario 3: launch both ASTROFOCAL and SETIFOCAL, which would use the very large distance between themselves and the Earth to measure parallaxes and detect gravitational waves.

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