Dropping Things Into The Sun is Hard....
Scott Manley1 HN recommenders · 2016–2019
519K views · demo · evergreen · Uploaded 2015-12-10
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.
Cited whenever someone suggests launching nuclear waste or other junk into the Sun, as a clear demonstration of the orbital mechanics involved.
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4 comments from Hacker News
> 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]
My idea is just figure out a way to nudge earth towards the sun and inertia will do the rest ARRGH! This is about as big a misunderstanding as not knowing the difference between sending a rocket to space vs. getting to orbit: [VIDEO] tl;dr -- the Earth is whizzing around the Sun at a really high speed. You'd have to cancel most of that velocity to get a spacecraft to get anywhere near the Sun. It would actually be less energy to send the Earth to Jupiter than to drop it into the Sun. You've repeatedly re-read this article, but never delved into basic orbital mechanics all that time!? I'm going to have to remember this in my chronicles of "Stuff I've actually seen posted in comments on HN."
> play Kerbal Space Program. Or watch Scott Manley demonstrate the unreasonable orbital dynamics you just described. [VIDEO]
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]