Here is the Abstract from Loeb's paper
At this early stage of its passage through our Solar System, 3I/ATLAS, the recently discovered
interstellar interloper, has displayed various anomalous characteristics, determined from photometric
and astrometric observations. As largely a pedagogical exercise, in this paper we present additional
analysis into the astrodynamics of 3I/ATLAS, and hypothesize that this object could be technological,
and possibly hostile as would be expected from the ’Dark Forest’ resolution to the ’Fermi Paradox’.
We show that 3I/ATLAS approaches surprisingly close to Venus, Mars and Jupiter, with a probability
of ≲ 0.005%. Furthermore the low retrograde tilt of 3I/ATLAS’s orbital plane to the ecliptic offers
various benefits to an Extra-terrestrial Intelligence (ETI), since it allows the object access to our planet
with relative impunity. The eclipse by the Sun from Earth of 3I/ATLAS at perihelion, would allow it to
conduct a clandestine reverse Solar Oberth Manoeuvre, an optimal high-thrust strategy for interstellar
spacecraft to brake and stay bound to the Sun. An optimal intercept of Earth would entail an arrival
in late November/early December of 2025, and also, a non-gravitational acceleration of ∼ 5.9 × 10−5
au day−2, normalized at 1 au from the Sun, would indicate an intent to intercept the planet Jupiter,
not far off its path, and a strategy to rendezvous with it after perihelion.
