For generations, human beings have fantasized about the possibility of finding extra-terrestrial life. And with our ongoing research efforts to discover new and exciting extrasolar planets (aka. exoplanets) in distant star systems, the possibility of actually visiting one of these worlds has received a real shot in the arm. Unfortunately, given the astronomical distances involved, not to mention the cost of mounting an expedition, doing so presents numerous significant challenges.
However, Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and the Breakthrough Foundation – an international organization committed to exploration and scientific research – is determined to mount an interstellar mission to Alpha Centauri, our closest stellar neighbor, in the coming years. With the backing of such big name sponsors as Mark Zuckerberg and Stephen Hawking, his latest initiative (named “Project Starshot“) aims to send a tiny spacecraft to the Alpha Centauri system to search for planets and signs of life.
Consisting of an ultra-light nanocraft and a lightsail, the concept calls for a ground-based laser array to push the lightsail up to speeds of hundreds of kilometers an hour, towing the nanocraft into deep space. Such a system would allow the tiny spacecraft to conduct a flyby mission to Alpha Centauri in about 20 years after it is launched, which could then beam home images of possible planets, as well as other scientific data such as analysis of magnetic fields.
In essence, Starshot seeks to leverage recent technological developments to mount an interstellar mission that will reach another star within a single generation. As we explained in another article (“How Long Would It Take To Travel To The Nearest Star?“), using existing technology, it would take between 19,000 to 81,000 years for a spacecraft to make the trip to even the nearest star, depending on whether chemical rockets or ion engines were used.
Hence, the Foundation’s advisory board explored all potential methods for creating a craft that could travel at relativistic speeds – up to 20% the speed of light – so it could traverse the 4.37 light year distance in just 20 years. They determined that a tiny craft, roughly the size of a refrigerator magnet and weighing in the vicinity of a few grams, would be the best model for a spacecraft. They further determined that the best propulsion method would be laser-driven lightsail, which is not hampered by the limits of conventional methods.
With a massive ground-based laser directing the sail, the plan is to accelerate the nanocraft to its terminal velocity before it reaches a distance of about one million km from Earth (which is the limit to which the laser beam can be focused on the meter-scale sail). All told, the nanocraft will experience an acceleration of about 60,000 g (sixty-thousands times the force of Earth’s gravity, which works out to just under 600,000 m/s²).
To read more, click here.