Yuri Milner, a Russian billionaire investor and physicist, has announced the creation of the project Breakthrough Starshot. The aim is to reach the nearest to us of the solar system, Alpha Centauri.
the project, backed by the brilliant physicist Stephen Hawking and Mark Zuckerberg, may be one of the most important breakthroughs in the history of space exploration. And this for several reasons.
Not a rocket, a postage stamp
The distance separating us to Alpha Centauri, which is a set of three stars, is gigantic. It is still “only” four years of light, but the distance and so is unavailable for any spacecraft at the disposal of mankind. Traveling billion kilometers is simply impossible with rocket-propelled.
Milner is so completely different idea. Towards Alpha Centauri we will send thousands of miniature probes named StarChips . Will have a small size – a postage stamp or a small smartphone.
For a few square centimeters of surface area to fit a camera and various types of sensors. It is quite likely. One example of such miniaturization is a computer Micro Mote, which is the size of a grain of rice.
Thousands of miniature “spacecraft”, weighing a few grams, not too expensive in production, increases the chance that some of them will reach the goal and will provide us with the data which until now we could not even dream of.
A giant sail instead of fuel
Perhaps the most innovative element in this project approach is to drive. It has to be a special sail. This concept is not new: the space sail moved by the solar wind – a stream of particles continuously emitted by our star.
But if we are to reach Alpha Centauri in less than 20 years, the solar radiation is not enough. Sails probe will therefore be driven by giant lasers placed on Earth. The process ramp-up is expected to take just two minutes. This is enough to get them 20 percent of the speed of light and reach the goal in our lifetime.
The success of the mission we will, however, only four years later. Because so many of us will travel to data from the probes.
And all this for a mere …
attention is also extremely low cost start of the project estimated at $ 100 million. Probably enough to a solid start. New York Times calculates that the entire project could cost $ 10 billion. As Forbes explains Milner tries to think rationally and looking for savings. For example, could send a laser driving the probe into orbit, it would avoid the problems caused by the Earth’s atmosphere. The creation of such infrastructure in space, however, raise the cost of the project … fifty.
It can be done, but …
The project Milner, who himself is a physicist and down-to-earth investor, supporting m . al. Facebook, Twitter, Spotify, are involved also other specialists. Head of the project was Pete Worden, former director of the Ames Research Center of NASA.
Milner does not hide his intentions – the aim of the project is the discovery of extraterrestrial civilizations. It is hard to believe that it can go in a few decades. Four years ago in the vicinity of Alpha Centauri B detected a planet the size of Earth. Preliminary calculations say that it is too hot, that life could develop there. Perhaps miniature probes verify these assumptions. One thing is certain, if the project Breakthrough Starshot succeeds, it will be a milestone in the history of space exploration by our species.
We must wait
Sorry for the project Breakthrough Starshot we have to wait. How long? Probably 20-30 years. Today we do not have the appropriate technology, the appropriate lasers. Miniature probes are also not ready for such a long journey – will be exposed to damaging radiation. It is also unclear how to fund them, to manage to send data back to Earth.
New York Times reports that the project Milner will be involved the whole staff of professionals who need to solve about twenty of this type very specific problems. The very fact that the exploration of such distant regions of space can be successful even in our lifetimes should be considered exciting.
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