Breakthrough Starshot Initiative researchers have discovered a technique to create a spacecraft that can travel at one-fifth the speed of light and reach another solar system in just 20 years. Alpha Centauri is a triple-star system and the closest one to Earth at about 4.2 to 4.4 light-years.
That means traveling from one solar system to another could be possible for most people today in their lifetime. The purpose of this endeavor is to investigate a star in a reasonable length of time rather than in a thousand years, which is the current capability of existing spacecraft.
Scientist and investor Yuri Milner (L) speaks during the New Space Exploration Initiative "Breakthrough Starshot" Announcement at One World Observatory on April 12, 2016 in New York City.
How Could It Be Possible?
As per The Space Academy, scientists working on the Starshot Project must ensure that the spacecraft can travel between stars at speeds closer to the speed of light. That means the mission will be unsuccessful if it is too far off than the speed of light. But given the current technology that humans have, like ion engines and even theoretical "warp drives," it is impossible.
Starshot Project's ambition is to fly at one-fifth that speed by utilizing a ground station's array of lasers to power a three-meter-diameter solar sail that is only a few microns thick.
With that said, sail would transport minuscule sensors to Alpha Centauri, Earth's nearest star system, which is about 4.37 light-years away. The Starshot spacecraft is estimated to arrive at its target in around 20 years if it traveled at a fifth of the speed of light. From there, it would take little under four and a half years for its signal to reach Earth.
Simon Peter Worden, former director of NASA Ames Research Center and now works as the director of the Institute for Theory and Computing at the Harvard-Smithsonian Center for Astrophysics Avi Loeb, said that Starshot Project is progressing well; but it is only now that they found the solution in making the technique work.
Igor Bargatin from the University of Pennsylvania is leading a team of researchers from the initiative and published the results of their research in two papers under the scientific journal Nano Letters, which aims to solve two fundamental problems.
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Two Fundamental Problems of the Starshot Project
Breakthrough Starshot Initiative aims to demonstrate that ultra-fast light-driven nanocraft could be possible and may lay the foundations for a first launch to Alpha Centauri. However, it would need to solve a number of hard engineering challenges before it becomes a reality.
They listed these fundamental problems on their website for consideration by experts and the public alike, as part of their commitment to be transparent and give open access to everyone. They hope that addressing these engineering challenges will open a path to the stars and spur innovation and new frontiers of exploration.
Scientists wrote that the nanocraft concept combined with light beamer, lightsail, and StarChip is by far the most plausible spacecraft that can be sent to Alpha Centauri within the next generation. Its design is based on technology either already available or to be attainable in the near future.
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