Fastest machine ever built to be fired around the sun to chase ‘UFO’ comet

Is this how we get a closer look of the mysterious 3I/ATLAS comet (Picture: Getty/Metro)

Scientists want to use a solar slingshot to catch up with the interstellar visitor 3I/ATLAS, that thing that may-or-may-not have been a UFO.

In the months since 3I/ATLAS was spotted drifting into our solar system, experts clashed over whether it was a comet or of extraterrestrial origin.

One reason for this was that even at its closest to Earth in December, 3I/ATLAS was still 167 million miles away, making observations tricky.