Solar Sail Sun Satellites Could Intercept All Future Interstellar Objects
by Brian Wang from NextBigFuture.com on (#6HG24)
Earth orbiting satellites have the speed to counter the Earth's gravity. The mean orbital velocity needed to maintain a stable low Earth orbit is about 7.8 km/s (4.8 mi/s), which translates to 28,000 km/h (17,000 mph). However, this depends on the exact altitude of the orbit. A statite, or static satellite, would use a solar ...