Conducting a flyby mission to an interstellar object visiting our solar system is "feasible and affordable," a new study finds. But orbiting such an interloper is a different story.
When the JWST finally began its long-awaited science operations in July 2022, there was a long list of targets awaiting its attention. Scientists compete for observing time by submitting proposals, and for every nine submitted proposals, only one gets approved. In the most recent Cycle 4 of the telescope's mission, scientists requested about 78,000 hours of observing time when only about 8700 were available.
