Adam Hibberd
@adamsspaceresearch.bsky.social
I developed the software which was used to solve the problem of catching up with the first interstellar object to be discovered, 1I/'Oumuamua, Project Lyra. I am a researcher for the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is).
My paper with Adam Crowl, Carlos Gomez de Olea Ballester, and Abraham Loeb, is out now: arxiv.org/abs/2606.01288 Here is an animation by Tony Dunn: orbitsimulator.com/BA/adam_phob...
Is the Dark Comet 1998 KY$_{26}$ the Spacecraft Phobos 1?
Since the discovery of new kinds of celestial bodies known as $dark~comets$, scientists have speculated about their ontology. A curious hybrid of comet and asteroid, these objects show significant non...
arxiv.org
My animation demonstration of a Solar Oberth Manoeuvre (SOM) is very popular on YouTube at the moment: @i4interstellar.bsky.social www.youtube.com/watch?v=eoo7...
Go to my latest blog which is related to harmonics, not musical, but celestial: adamhibberd.com/2026/04/06/h...
How long does it take to get to the Sun/Earth L4 Point from Earth?
Adam Hibberd Let’s say we eject a spacecraft with a small velocity decrement in the opposite direction to Earth’s own velocity around the Sun, what will happen to it exactly? It will stay around Ea…
adamhibberd.com
Go to my latest blog post about how the New Horizons probe was launched. adamhibberd.com/2026/03/23/u...
Understanding New Horizons Launch Trajectory
Adam Hibberd For various reasons to do with research, I had to recompute the launch ascent trajectory for the New Horizons mission. New Horizons was a probe sent to Pluto and took various outstandi…
adamhibberd.com
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.
2024 YR4, Which Rendezvous Plan?
i4is.org
My latest personal blog highlights some of the challenges for Project Lyra: @i4interstellar.bsky.social adamhibberd.com/2026/02/27/r...
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…
adamhibberd.com
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...
A Mission to 3I/ATLAS by Solar Slingshot (a layperson’s guide).
i4is.org
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
3I/ATLAS: Is It Worth a Solar Oberth?
i4is.org
My work is mentioned in Universe Today: www.universetoday.com/articles/a-n...
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...
universetoday.com
@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...
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…
adamhibberd.com
My latest blog post is not directly space-related: adamhibberd.com/2026/01/24/a...
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…
adamhibberd.com
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...
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…
adamhibberd.com
My research into reaching 3I/ATLAS by Solar Oberth: arxiv.org/abs/2601.02533
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...
arxiv.org
Go to my blog for my Project Lyra memoirs: adamhibberd.com/2025/12/29/p...
Project Lyra: A Second Chance
Adam Hibberd Memoirs
adamhibberd.com
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...
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 …
adamhibberd.com
My quest to number-crunch the Mars Cycler, see below. Merry Christmas everyone. adamhibberd.com/2025/12/24/c...
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 …
adamhibberd.com
My ongoing analysis into the Mars Cycler, go to my blog: adamhibberd.com/2025/12/22/a...
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…
adamhibberd.com
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...
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 …
adamhibberd.com
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...
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…
adamhibberd.com
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...
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:
adamhibberd.com