Intercepting 3I/ATLAS at Its Closest Approach to Jupiter with the Juno Spacecraft

The interstellar object 3I/ATLAS is expected to arrive at a distance of $53.56(\pm 0.45)$ million $\mathrm{km}$ ($0.358\pm 0.003$ au) from Jupiter on 16 March 2026. We show that applying a total thrust $\Delta$V of $2.6755\mathrm{km}{\mathrm{s}}^{-1}$ to the lower perijove on 9 September 2025 and then executing a Jupiter Oberth Maneuver can bring the Juno spacecraft from its orbit around Jupiter to intercept the path of 3I/ATLAS on 14 March 2026. We further show that it is possible for Juno to come much closer to 3I/ATLAS (∼27 million $\mathrm{km}$) with 110 kg of remaining propellant, merely 5.4% of the initial fuel reservoir. We find that for low available $\Delta$V, there is no particular benefit in the application of a double impulse (for example, to reach ∼27 million $\mathrm{km}$ from 3I/ATLAS); however, if Juno has a higher $\Delta$V capability, there is a significant advantage of a second impulse, typically saving propellant by a factor of a half. A close fly-by might allow us to probe the nature of 3I/ATLAS far better than telescopes on Earth.