Editing Openai/691a2d9f-c044-8012-bccf-942bfce6334d (section)

==== Gravity assist 101 but scaled up: ====
* If you send a mass into a very close solar perihelion with the right incoming vector, it can leave with significantly increased heliocentric speed and a steered outbound trajectory.
* For spacecraft, we do this with Jupiter/Sun all the time.
* For mass blocks, same physics, but: - they need to survive high thermal loads - we may have to wrap the ice in reflective/ablative shells so it doesn’t just vaporize.

So the pipeline becomes:
# Source ice from outer system or main belt icy bodies.
# Package into ice-plus-shell blocks (artificial comets): - radiation shielding - thermal protection - maybe integrated tanks / cavities for future use as depots.
# Send them inward on trajectories that dive close to the Sun.
# At perihelion, they: - experience intense heating (must be managed) - undergo gravitational slingshot - exit on an engineered outbound path with higher speed.

From Earth’s perspective, you’ve built a payload throwing machine that uses free solar gravity instead of powering all the Δv from rockets.