Posted on 12/19/2017 9:06:07 PM PST by BenLurkin
The proposed journey, which was revealed by scientists with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the 2017 Geophysical Union Conference and reported by New Scientist, was born out of a budget mandate to make progress on interstellar travel. Now, NASA is working on technology that, if all goes as planned, could allow a spacecraft to reach ten percent of light speed, and the goal is to have it ready by 2069 with Alpha Centauri in its sights.
... The system is around 4.3 light years from Earth, which essentially makes it a next-door neighbor. If NASA succeeds at achieving ten percent of light speed with a spacecraft, it would allow them to reach the system with a probe in as little as 44 years.
The biggest hurdle in this proposed mission for NASA to overcome is the development of the propulsion technology that would allow a probe to travel the massive distance in a relatively short period of time. A number of possible techniques have been proposed, including laser-propelled sails which could be pushed to incredible speeds, but putting such theoretical technology into practice is easier said than done.
(Excerpt) Read more at bgr.com ...
2069? My thirteen year old will be 65.
Gonna be some very interesting technological developments by then.
And deficit spending is a problem now? Wait until 2069. What a joke.
The flagship of this armada will be called the Jupiter II.
Ok predicting right now, this mission is not going to happen.
43 years to get a probe there and 4.3 years to send or receive a signal to it. Add those to 2069 and you get your first close up pics back in about the year 2117. And entire century from now.
The Dems block all large-scale science projects.
10% of the speed of light is going to require a massive amount of energy to achieve. Also consider the navigation system you would need to have, going some 18,600 miles per second means that one would need a very long amount of time to avoid an object that is on a collision course as the inertia of an object moving that fast would require huge sums of energy to change direction. Lets also not forgot that it would also take a very long time to slow down to achieve orbit around the star.
The Robinson family has been selected to go. Major Don West. I have a sneaking feeling that Dr. Zachary Smith will find a way to get passage. And don’t forget to have a robot.
I was wondering why they picked 2069. Then I realized they have to time the flyby of Uranus
The nice thing about staring an interstellar mission using any technology we have available is, it doesn't matter when we start -- it'll never come to fruition in our lifetimes, assuming it continues to work when it arrives at its destination, and assuming it does. There was at least one scifi story (short or novel, I dunno now) in which those who went into the old favorite, stasis, or hibernation, on a long slow trip to another star, arrived there as time capsules, because while they were out, FTL transporation had been figured out and humans had colonies at all the destinations. Suckers! Thanks BenLurkin.
The probe is going to send back some really blurry pictures if it is moving at 10% of the speed of light. If they are planning on slowing it down before it gets there it will take twice as long and require twice the energy.
If NASA succeeds at achieving ten percent of light speed with a spacecraft...
...the craft will be moving at 18,628 miles per second, too fast to slow down, and a little over six years after that the fairly short stream of data will arrive at Earth -- assuming anyone is still listening for the signal.
Yeah, and right after that leftist will claim that Alpha Centauri is being ruined by global warming and white males.
Yeah. We know how that worked out, right? DANGER WILL ROBINSON!!
Instead of sending a “probe” to Alpha Centauri, let’s send an anal problem into the Democrat Party.
1. They are closer.
2. It won’t cost too much.
3. They need an anal probe to find out why they are so full of crap.
4. It might also discover why so many Democrats are brain dead.
5. The look on the faces of Chuckie Schumer and Nancy Pelosi when the probe strikes will be PRICELESS.
Ummm, what about cosmic ray shielding?
Maybe use an adjustable "solar sail" set to a broad reach?
Just make sure Dr Smith doesn’t sneak on board right before take-off
(Worst special effects ever - for those who know the show I am referring to.)
Silly
Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.