So imagine we get to build a probe for the sole purpose of flinging it out there between V1 and V2 at the highest velocity we can muster. What sort of instruments should it have?

I'm not an astrophysicist, but I imagine a mass spectrometer to measure its make up and magnetometer to measure the magnetic field would be at the top of the list.

Perhaps its position is not constant. If so, we should understand how it changes over time before attempting to intercept it.

Key Star Trek Generations analogies.

But of course ... I've never seen that movie, and if I did I didn't like it.