The Europa Clipper spacecraft may soon be pummeled by charged particles — particles ripped away from the ion tail streaming from the interstellar comet 3I/ATLAS.
That's the new prediction from two European researchers whose computer code allows them to identify when spacecraft can align with a comet's tail and the sun. Completely harmless to the spacecraft, the event provides a rare and fortuitous alignment — and a unique opportunity to directly sample material from a comet from beyond our region of the cosmos.
