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reaperduceryesterday at 6:38 PM1 replyview on HN

Absolutely. You could wait decades or centuries for a useful planetary alignment.


Replies

vikingerikyesterday at 8:01 PM

Not really. Jupiter alone is good enough. Its huge mass accounts for almost all of the gain you get from any such slingshot. Launch windows from Jupiter to anywhere occur every 12 years. Voyager's alignment was captivating, but realistically if it hadn't happened, we would have just done separate Jupiter-Uranus and Jupiter-Neptune missions instead.