Posted on 04/12/2016 2:00:15 PM PDT by LibWhacker
Stephen Hawking is backing a project to send tiny spacecraft to another star system within a generation.
They would travel trillions of miles; far further than any previous craft.
A $100m (£70m) research programme to develop the computer chip-sized "starships" was launched by the billionaire Yuri Milner, supported by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Interstellar travel has long been a dream for many, but significant technological hurdles remain.
But Prof Hawking told BBC News that fantasy could be realised sooner than we might think.
Media captionThe spacecraft would be propelled from earth by a giant laser, as Pallab Ghosh reports
"If we are to survive as a species we must ultimately spread out to the stars," he said.
(Excerpt) Read more at bbc.com ...
Hi Mom ... send money ... about 100 billion to start.
And how to launch these really tiny craft? With a rubber band?
Great, send a road map to any alien life advanced enough for interstellar space travel. Lots of protein on Earth.
Probably get them into orbit via a standard launcher, then zap them with the laser to send them on their way.
That's an understatement. Its like saying "living for 1,000 years has long been a dream for many, but significant medical hurdles remain."
Hmmm. If aliens are using this technique to spy on us, how would we detect it?
Nanofiber bands, not rubber. ;’)
I’m no physicist or engineer, but given the size, it’d be tough. Now... If the object were a large ship zipping through our solar system at 20% the speed of light, I would think there might be ways; I mean, just the interaction with the solar wind alone might be detectable.
Even if you could send a 10 gram probe to the Centauri system at 1/10th the speed of light, after you wait 40 years, you don't know it even got there! It cannot send back a strong enough signal for you to receive, 44 years after the "chip" arrived.
Hawking may be smart, but he is IGNORANT of radio technology.
Stephen Horndog
Why does Hawking’s voice synthesizer sound like it’s from 1983? He should upgrade.
I like their moxie, but for the next hundred years we can explore more just by building better telescopes. There are designs on drawing boards right now for telescopes than can resolve to small land features, oceans, etc. When we finally launch something to another star, it won’t be rolling the dice. We’ll know what is there and why we are going.
Had there been no private sector investment in medical technology, you'd be dead..........As an example, Polio was conquered by investments into the March of Dimes...........
I assume they're relying on quantum entanglement.
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