It's at least somewhat career-imperiling to submit a serious proposal to build one or more spacecraft to chase these things should another one pass by. It's also a very good idea. Again, more sad commentary on the state of capital "S" Science.
I'll bet you could spin it. something something transitory something something extrasolar something something standby something something. Pay rent on a pad at Vandenberg, keep a Delta IV heavy handy, lob the fucker at whatever looks interesting. You could probably make the Space Force pay for more than half of it as a "rapid response" demonstrator or some shit. Doesn't have to be manned, can be nuclear (chicks love nuclear), give it a logo involving a bicep and a lightning bolt, sneak it into an omnibus spending bill. Space Force will bacronym it into "High Apogee AutonoMous Rover" (HAAMR) and dipshits will post 3d builds of it on Thingiverse.
Oh it absolutely cannot be manned: 1) Must be as light as possible to reach ludicrous speed (plaid, for the uninitiated) and 2) We can't count on intercepting it before it reaches perihelion, so we'll most likely have to chase it out of the solar system. Well... I dunno, maybe if Bezos isn't busy that launch day... "HOUSTON! You ARE there!! I didn't think the radio link was working!" "It works, Jeff, we've just been ignoring you for forty-seven days. Now, you are approaching a craft on your starboard side, do you have a visual?" "YES! It's a... it looks yellow, and it's very nearly stationa-" "JEFF! Jeff. I'm gonna cut you off right there. That's a painting of a school bus we taped to the window. We're using instrumentation to study the object, just as we'd always planned. No one gives a shit anymore what you say, Jeff." "What? OHHhhh, hahah, it is a little school bus! Wow, how'd I never notice that before, hah, it's not even that small. Hey guys? OK so am I really close to something up here? Guys? HEY, I THOUGHT THIS WAS JUST MY SPACE TOURIST FLIGHT, YOU LIED, YOU SAID W-" Static on the comm ends abruptly. The sounds of Jeff talking to himself as he slowly starves to death on a diet of packaging materials are suffered by exactly no one else. Branding it as an extraterrestrial defense system and going through the military is, of course, the most likely way to score funding, totally agree. I'll legit think about doing that in the coming years. Hey, at least it won't have branding this bad."Jeff this is Houston. Come in, Jeff."
Maan I haven't watched Spaceballs in entirely too long. My kid spent a month and a half at a daycare run by an Afghan woman that I wanted to be cool? But we never saw the inside of it and it was kinda like a CIA black site so we pulled her. There was a kid there named Isis. Not the best timing. Back before the Gulf War I worked with a company all the time called Innovative Electronic Designs. Being "IED" became a problem quite abruptly.
can not stop laughingDoesn't have to be manned, can be nuclear (chicks love nuclear), give it a logo involving a bicep and a lightning bolt, sneak it into an omnibus spending bill. Space Force will bacronym it into "High Apogee AutonoMous Rover" (HAAMR) and dipshits will post 3d builds of it on Thingiverse.