Harnessing Interstellar Objects Like 3I/ATLAS Could One Day Let Humanity Send Messages Beyond the Solar System

For humanity, the idea of harnessing interstellar motion is still theoretical but not entirely out of reach. Scientists already know how to alter the trajectories of small objects using solar sails, gravitational assists, and thermal propulsion. In principle, those same techniques could one day be used to guide small, durable payloads out of the solar system — effectively turning them into data-bearing interstellar messengers.

The concept isn’t new. NASA’s Voyager 1 and 2 probes, launched in 1977, each carry a “Golden Record” — a gold-plated copper disk containing sounds and images from Earth. Both spacecraft are now beyond the heliopause, making them the first human-made objects to enter interstellar space. Unlike Voyager, however, a natural object such as 3I/ATLAS doesn’t require fuel or propulsion to travel between stars — it’s already doing so.

That fact alone has led some researchers to consider the possibility of attaching micro-instruments or reflective identifiers to outbound asteroids or comets, allowing them to carry encoded information indefinitely through space. Such a project would rely entirely on physics and materials science we already understand: stability, radiation shielding, and long-term data preservation.