A friend told me that with the current engineering we cannot send a satellite to the sun (just reaching it, not survival) because we would have to nullify the velocity of earth with respect to the sun. I’m not sure I understand and not sure if that is true.
In: Physics
I mean, it’s not true. But it is hard. For the simplified case where the sun is a point-mass and there’s nothing between us and the sun, yeah it’s difficult because your probe or ship will have Earth’s orbital velocity trying to put you in orbit around the sun. But if you have a way to scrub off some of that velocity, say by slingshotting off of Venus or Mercury, and aerobraking in the outer layers on the sun you could hit it. We recently sent a probe within a few solar radii in fact (not into the sun because they want it functional). Should be there in the next few years.
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