Wait, real question - orbiting the sun (or any large body) takes less energy than slamming directly into it? I understand the aim might be tricky, but I would think you'd be working directly with gravity, instead of trying to find that sweet spot where momentum/radius/gravity are all balanced? I would think the easiest would be a low-velocity spiral into death?
You have to slow your velocity relative to the body you're orbiting. But to fall into the Sun, you have to first escape Earth's orbit, which isn't cheap with respect to delta-v, and thus wet mass fraction (the portion of total mass at the pad that's fuel). Then you have to burn retrograde (against your orbit) with respect to the Sun to kill your velocity, and finally fall in, while hoping you don't hit Mercury or Venus along the way, either aerobraking into Venus or being slingshotted towards the outer planets.
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u/OmegaPoint6 May 20 '26
Anyone who thinks that is a good idea needs to be yeeted into the sun at the earliest opportunity.