Dropping Things Into The Sun is Hard....

Scott Manley · 518.8K views · 2015-12-10 · 6:40

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Overview

Scott Manley uses a realistically scaled Kerbal Space Program setup to show why dropping something into the Sun is far harder than it sounds. It demonstrates the need to cancel orbital velocity.

On Hacker News

Cited whenever someone suggests launching nuclear waste or other junk into the Sun, as a clear demonstration of the orbital mechanics involved.

Recommended by 1 HN people across 1 months · HN mentions 2016–2019

Topics

Space exploration & spaceflight Fundamental physics

What people said

pdkl95 · 2017-03 · Recommendation
> play Kerbal Space Program. Or watch Scott Manley demonstrate the unreasonable orbital dynamics you just described. [VIDEO]
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bipson · 2019-08 · Reference
Also, what happens to the stuff we toss into space? People still seem to make the same mistake our ancestors did regarding tossing stuff into the ocean. To be more precise: achieving a velocity high enough to e.g. detonate on the surface of the sun (in particular carrying tons of nuclear waste) won't be cheap for a long time. [1] Stuff we "toss out there" would probably just keep floating in an uncontrolled (in the long run) earth bound orbit and might come back at some point. [1] [VIDEO]
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TeMPOraL · 2016-05 · Reference
> You could potentially dump some energy with a gravitational assist off of Venus (transfer some of our momentum into speeding up its orbit while slowing ours down) I've heard that a hard turn around Jupiter is even better. I remember Scott Manley dropping a probe into Kerbol via Jool gravity assist in one video[0]. Actually, now I want to make a simulation with Earth doing Jupiter flybys. What's good for that nowadays? Universe Sandbox? [0] - [VIDEO]
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Sources

Video by Scott Manley, played through YouTube.

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