Detection Volumes for Interstellar Objects in Current and Forthcoming Wide-Field Surveys

This paper addresses a single quantitative question about interstellar objects and interstellar traversal: How far away can present and forthcoming surveys see an 'Oumuamua-sized object, and how many should lie inside that volume? Working from published survey values for the known interstellar objects and for the local interstellar medium, the paper computes limiting distances, search volumes and expected enclosed numbers for three survey depths. The headline values obtained are H = 22.4; d21 = 0.73; d245 = 1.63; V245 = 18. Each number is produced by the deposited computation script from inputs that are stated in full, so the result can be reproduced, checked and updated as survey measurements improve. The study is a computation from stated assumptions and published data; it presents no new observations. Its contribution is a transparent budget: a set of numbers, the relations that produce them, and an explicit account of how sensitively each number depends on the assumptions behind it.