Last year, a small team of astronomers announced the discovery of an Earth-like planet orbiting the red dwarf star Proxima Centauri, one of our nearest neighbors in the Alpha Centauri system. This exoplanet, called Proxima Centauri b, sits in the habitable zone around its host. Any water there should exist in liquid form, making this planet an important candidate in the search for extraterrestrial life.
Consequently, Proxima Centauri b has generated intense interest. It is about 40 trillion kilometers from Earth, a distance light travels in just over four years. A spacecraft traveling at about a tenth of light speed could make the trip in about 50 years.
And that raises an interesting question. Is it possible to build a spacecraft that we could send to Proxima Centauri within the lifetimes of people living today?
To read more, click here.