Ever
since watching my first episode of Star Trek I wanted to see the day come when
we can travel to the stars. We may never have the ability to travel at the leisure
we see on that TV show. However we may be able to at least travel to nearby
stars. Before people can go there, we will probably send probes. Sending people
to the stars may be a few centuries away. However, sending a probe to Alpha Centauri,
part of a three star system that is the closest to Earth, may be just a few
years away. Alpha Centauri is a little over 4 light years away. When I was a
kid, they told us traveling to the stars was impossible. They are too far away.
With today’s technology, our rockets would take over 40,000 years. But with
these new plans, the probe will take 20 years. That is much better. So from Space.com:
-SJ Otto
The
famed cosmologist, along with a group of scientists and billionaire investor
Yuri Milner, unveiled an ambitious new $100 million project today (April 12)
called Breakthrough Starshot,
which aims to build the prototype for a tiny, light-propelled robotic
spacecraft that could visit the nearby star Alpha Centauri after a journey of
just 20 years.
"The
limit that confronts us now is the great void between us and the stars, but now
we can transcend it," Hawking said today during a news conference here at
One World Observatory. [Stephen Hawking: 'Transcending
Our Limits' With Breakthrough Starshot (Video)]
"With light beams, light sails and
the lightest spacecraft ever built, we can launch a mission to Alpha Centauri
within a generation," he added. "Today, we commit to this next great
leap into the cosmos. Because we are human, and our nature is to fly."
The
Starshot spacecraft will consist of a wafer-size chip attached to a super-thin sail.
This paired duo will be launched to space aboard a mothership, and then
propelled to the stars by laser light beamed from a high-altitude facility here
on Earth.
For
the rest click
here.
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