Project 'Starshot' for Interstellar Space Exploration

Started by josephpalazzo, April 12, 2016, 04:29:04 PM

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josephpalazzo

Quote
NEW YORK â€" Stephen Hawking wants humanity to reach the stars.
   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.
   Such a craft, Milner said, could be accelerated up to 20 percent the speed of light â€" fast enough to make it to the Alpha Centauri system, which lies 4.37 light-years away, just two decades after launch. (It would take a conventionally propelled probe about 30,000 years to make such a trip.)


Read the full article at: http://www.space.com/32546-interstellar-spaceflight-stephen-hawking-project-starshot.html


stromboli

Yeah, saw this earlier. I didn't post it because in 20 years I'll likely be dead.  :shucks:

Unbeliever

Yeah, why couldn't this have been done 20 years ago? I feel cheated...


I do hope they get it done right. Maybe silly humans are finally on their way to becoming citizens of the universe.

So much the worse for the universe, though.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

josephpalazzo

Quote from: stromboli on April 12, 2016, 05:20:45 PM
Yeah, saw this earlier. I didn't post it because in 20 years I'll likely be dead.  :shucks:

You shouldn't be playing God with your life. In 20 years you will see it happen... Even if someone will be pushing you on a wheelchair... ;-)

Nonsensei

Quote from: josephpalazzo on April 12, 2016, 06:38:45 PM
You shouldn't be playing God with your life. In 20 years you will see it happen... Even if someone will be pushing you on a wheelchair... ;-)

Actually none of us might see the results since it also takes 20 years for a signal to make it back.
And on the wings of a dream so far beyond reality
All alone in desperation now the time has come
Lost inside you\'ll never find, lost within my own mind
Day after day this misery must go on

josephpalazzo

Quote from: Nonsensei on April 12, 2016, 06:41:13 PM
Actually none of us might see the results since it also takes 20 years for a signal to make it back.

At least you'll know if half-way it still on course, which is better than nothing...

Unbeliever

It will only take 4.2 years or so for the signal to return to us.
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

stromboli

Quote from: josephpalazzo on April 12, 2016, 06:38:45 PM
You shouldn't be playing God with your life. In 20 years you will see it happen... Even if someone will be pushing you on a wheelchair... ;-)

In 20 years I'll be 87. Probably demented and possibly blind. don't think it'll matter.

Unbeliever

The thing won't get off the ground for decades, probably, so add that to the 20 years.

:shucks:
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman

AllPurposeAtheist

The last time we tried to get to Alpha Centauri THIS is what happened! 
https://youtu.be/Wz2_d6zWDhg
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

Hydra009

#10
Am I the only one impressed by the potential 20% speed of light capability?

AllPurposeAtheist

Quote from: Hydra009 on April 13, 2016, 07:18:32 PM
Am I the only one impressed by the potential 20% speed of light capability?
Life is just too hectic to get in that big of a rush..
All hail my new signature!

Admit it. You're secretly green with envy.

Mike Cl

Quote from: AllPurposeAtheist on April 13, 2016, 05:31:19 PM
The last time we tried to get to Alpha Centauri THIS is what happened! 
https://youtu.be/Wz2_d6zWDhg
God APA--I hate that show!  The evil villain and the little fucking brat were/are insipid, stupid, vapid, and just plain dumb!!  Hated Hogan's Hero's, F-Troop,  Car 54 Where Are You, and oh so many more.  Sitcom's suck!!
Is God willing to prevent evil, but not able?<br />Then he is not omnipotent,<br />Is he able but not willing?<br />Then whence cometh evil?<br />Is he neither able or willing?<br />Then why call him god?

Unbeliever

Quote from: Mike Cl on April 14, 2016, 10:53:22 AM
God APA--I hate that show!  The evil villain and the little fucking brat were/are insipid, stupid, vapid, and just plain dumb!!  Hated Hogan's Hero's, F-Troop,  Car 54 Where Are You, and oh so many more.  Sitcom's suck!!

I only like Night Court and News Radio, myself.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=t0NmaBtpnBE



https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxFv71aybZ4
God Not Found
"There is a sucker born-again every minute." - C. Spellman