Adam Hibberd

Bombay Mix Adam Hibberd I wanted some ‘Bombay Mix’ urgently (next day)! For those of you unfamiliar with this comestible, this is a savoury Indian snack with nuts, crisp vermicelli, sultanas, and …

adamhibberd.com/2026/03/08/b...

My latest blog post:
i4is.org/2024-yr4-whi...
It is concerned with two possible trajectory solutions to rendezvous with an asteroid designated 2024 YR4, as solved by my 'Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software' (OITS).
A possible sample return could be achieved, in the way it was for OSIRIS-REx.

Reaching ‘Oumuamua: a Challenge for Humanity Adam Hibberd ‘Oumuamua is inexorably receding from the sun, travelling farther and farther away as time goes by, it is now well beyond the orbit of Neptune, and even beyond the Kuiper Belt. T…

My latest personal blog highlights some of the challenges for Project Lyra:

@i4interstellar.bsky.social

adamhibberd.com/2026/02/27/r...

If you want a layperson's guide concerning the paper I wrote with Marshall Eubanks and Andreas Hein on the subject of missions to 3I/ATLAS using a solar slingshot, go to my starship blog for the Initiative for Interstellar Studies, here:

i4is.org/a-mission-to...

The Earth’s Core Adam Hibberd A fair few people of my age and older will remember the American actor Doug McClure and his popularity in the UK as the personification of the brave, handsome (so I am led to believe&#…

adamhibberd.com/2026/02/24/t...

Go to my starship blog about intercepting interstellar object 3I/ATLAS by a particular spacecraft trajectory manoeuvre known as a 'Solar Oberth':

i4is.org/3i-atlas-is-...

@i4interstellar.bsky.social

A New Concept for Catching Up with 3I/ATLAS The third interstellar object detected in our Solar System (3I/ATLAS) has a unique and continually unfolding story to tell of its nature and origin. In a recent paper, scientists from the i4is show ho...

My work is mentioned in Universe Today:

www.universetoday.com/articles/a-n...

How to Reach Interstellar Visitors, Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software Adam Hibberd An article I wrote for Principium, quarterly publication of the ‘Initiative for Interstellar Studies’, several years ago now, not long after the first interstellar object p…

@i4interstellar.bsky.social

My latest blog details how my software works at a basic level, and explains how I used it to solve the problem of sending a mission to catch the interstellar object 1I/'Oumuamua:

adamhibberd.com/2026/02/07/h...

Sample Return Mission Feasibility of 2024 YR4 Adam Hibberd A mission to Near Earth Asteroid designated 2024 YR4 which for a while had a relatively high chance of colliding with the Earth. This probability has dropped to zero but instead the li…

adamhibberd.com/2026/02/05/s...

A Recipe for Disaster Adam Hibberd Life is like a box of chocolates, you sometimes over-indulge, scoff the lot and then regret you had the box of chocolates. I know at least one ex-acquaintance who became rather wealthy…

My latest blog post is not directly space-related:
adamhibberd.com/2026/01/24/a...

A Challenge for OITS Adam Hibberd I was recently asked by a US colleague to do a little research using ‘OITS’. For those of you unaware by now, ‘OITS’ stands for ‘Optimum Interplanetary Tr…

My latst blog concerning missions to Near Earth Objects:

adamhibberd.com/2026/01/23/a...

More on 2024 YR4 Adam Hibberd The 2024 YR4 of the title is an asteroid which was discovered in December of 2024 with a really cool Christmas present for humanity: the prospect of a collision with Earth only 8 years…

Back to the close encounter in 2032 of an asteroid discovered in 2024 December, namely 2024 YR4. Go to my latest blog concerning a mission:

adamhibberd.com/2026/01/10/m...

i4is.org/3i-atlas-is-...

Catching 3I/ATLAS Using a Solar Oberth The third interstellar object to be discovered, 3I/ATLAS, has a unique and continually unfolding story to tell about its nature and origin as it is monitored by telescopes on Earth, orbiting Earth and...

My research into reaching 3I/ATLAS by Solar Oberth:

arxiv.org/abs/2601.02533

3I/ATLAS: Is It Worth a Solar Oberth? Adam Hibberd Have you noticed, 3I/ATLAS is well and truly on its way out of the Solar System? It has afterall passed through its closest approach to the Sun (perihelion) and is well on its way to a…

adamhibberd.com/2026/01/06/3...

Project Lyra: A Second Chance Adam Hibberd Memoirs

Go to my blog for my Project Lyra memoirs:

adamhibberd.com/2025/12/29/p...

The ‘Know Show’ Adam Hibberd Just trying to figure whether I’ve been conned or not !!!! When you are an academic (yes, yes I know, that isn’t me), then that means you are more intelligent than average …

A Christmas story from my blog of my experience as a scientist, a situation many will be familiar with:

adamhibberd.com/2025/08/12/t...

Cyclers: the Quest Continues Adam Hibberd My quest to number-crunch the Mars (Aldrin) Cycler is progressing with every iteration of my software adding more and more encounters, be they Earth or Mars, each adding weight to the …

My quest to number-crunch the Mars Cycler, see below.

Merry Christmas everyone.

adamhibberd.com/2025/12/24/c...

A Mars Cycler: Insights Adam Hibberd I’ve been progressing with my research into a Mars Cycler where the orbits of Earth and Mars are NOT assumed to be circular NOR coplanar, in other words the orbital paths followe…

My ongoing analysis into the Mars Cycler, go to my blog:

adamhibberd.com/2025/12/22/a...

A Practical Cycler Adam Hibberd I’ve been working on the ‘Mars Cycler’, a problem which is normally addressed by assuming the Earth and Mars are in circular, coplanar orbits.However, I’ve been…

Go to my blog on Cyclers:

adamhibberd.com/2025/12/19/a...

Measurement of Mass by Space Sails Adam Hibberd I’ve been doing a little algebra. Let me state the problem. Let us say we have a swarm of space sails flying edge on to the interstellar medium (ISM). This swarm lies in a plane …

How a swarm of space sails formated in a plane perpendicular to their direction of motion may measure the mass of a nearby object (such as Proxima b, the planet orbiting the closest star to our Sun, Proxima Centauri):

adamhibberd.com/2025/12/11/m...

Project Lyra with a Starship Adam Hibberd I have been considering the feasibility of a mission to 1I/’Oumuamua (under the banner of Project Lyra of course) in the context of a SpaceX Starship launch vehicle. The word ‘Starship…

I have returned to a familiar old chestnut - PROJECT LYRA. The study of missions to 'Oumuamua. SpaceX Starship and Falcon Heavy make an appearance.

Go to my latest blog here:

adamhibberd.com/2025/12/10/p...

Exploring Interstellar Missions: Project Lyra Insights Adam Hibberd A list of potential missions to the first interstellar object, as investigated by me as a part of Project Lyra:

My latest blog provides a list of the salient Project Lyra missions I have discovered so far.

Project Lyra is the initiative to catch up and intercept the first interstellar object to be discovered:

adamhibberd.com/2025/12/10/e...

I suggest you refrain from this ridiculous and unnecessary attack. I have answered your question completely and accurately. Look at my previous responses.

BTW having thought about this, the distribution of inclination is entirely independent of the incoming radiant anyway. It IS crucially dependent on the impact parameter and beta angle, which can be legitimately assumed to have uniform distribution. Thus the equation used is probably good enough.

This is a perfectly acceptable first order approximation, and what you are suggesting would be worthy of a paper of its own, it's certainly beyond the remit of this one.

The assumption is indeed that they are isotropic (I clearly state this in the blog), whereas from previous work I have conducted, there is an increased likelihood of their incoming radiants originating from the Solar Apex or even Antapex.

3I/ATLAS in Plane Language Adam Hibberd I have had many queries concerning the calculation of the likelihood of 3I/ATLAS’s orbital plane lying within 5° of that of the ecliptic of the Solar System. This calculation app…

I was the key writer of the 'Is 3I/ATLAS Alien Technology?' paper with Adam Crowl and Avi Loeb. Therein is a calculation of the probability that 3I/ATLAS could have arrived so close to the ecliptic, the maths has been very contentious. Go to my blog here:

adamhibberd.com/2025/11/26/3...

The SpaceX Starship and Catching an Interstellar Object Adam Hibberd On the request of a colleague, I have solved the problem of exploiting the wonderful SpaceX Starship (in fact the yet to be launched Block 3 variant) to lift a spacecraft so that it ca…

My latest post is all about using a SpaceX Starship Block 3 to eventually intercept the first unambiguous interstellar object to be discovered, 1I/'Oumuamua (PROJECT LYRA):

adamhibberd.com/2025/12/06/t...

Go to the lead feature of the latest issue 51 of Principium, which is my contribution to this publication. It concerns my work with Avi Loeb and Adam Crowl on our two papers to do with the interstellar object 3I/ATLAS:

drive.google.com/file/d/1FxBN...