A project to send small spacecraft to other solar systems and thus make interstellar travel could be closer than ever to becoming a reality.
This is the building spaceships traveling trillion kilometers , far beyond any ship in the past.
the research program which it has been endorsed by the British scientist known Stephen Hawking aims to develop a chip that will function as “spacecraft” and shorten the duration of travel.
the project is valued at about US $ 100 million and was launched by billionaire Yuri Milner . It also has the support of the founder of Facebook, Mark Zuckerberg .
Travel Interstellar
The interstellar trips have been long time a dream for many, but there are still major technological obstacles to achieving them.
However, professor Hawking told the BBC that fantasy could be realized sooner than we think.
“If we want to survive as a species we should try to reach for the stars, to the last instance,” said the scientist.
“astronomers believe there is a strong possibility that there is a planet similar Earth orbiting one of the stars (in) the Alpha Centauri system. But we’ll know more in the next two decades thanks to the information obtained by ground- and space telescopes. “
“the technological advances of the past two decades and the future will make this possible, in principle, within the span of a person’s life,” he said.
Professor Hawking supports the project of the Breakthrough Foundation Milner, a private organization that funds scientific research initiatives that do not get public funds because they are considered too ambitious.
Panel
The organization brought together a group of scientific experts to assess whether it may be possible develop spacecraft capable of traveling to another star within a generation and send information back .
The nearest star system is 40 trillion kilometers away. Using current technology, it would take about 30,000 years to get there.
The panel concluded that with a little more research and development, might be possible to create spaceships that could reduce the journey time to just 30 years .
“a few years ago, I was told to travel to another star to such speed would not be possible, “said Pete Worden, who heads the project and is president of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation.
“However, the expert group found that, thanks to technological developments would be a factor that would be key to run the project.”
“the factor is reduce the size of the spacecraft about the size of a chip used in electronic devices . the idea is to launch a thousand of these space mini-ships in orbit. Each would have a solar sail, “said Worden .
solar sails are like candles edeun boat, but instead use wind are pushed by light . A giant laser on Earth would give each ship a powerful push, sending them to your route and reaching 20% of the speed of light.
It sounds like science fiction, but Yuri Milner, whose parents gave him named after Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin, believes it is technically possible to develop these spacecraft and reach another star in the life of a human.
“human history is one of the great leaps” , He said. “It fifty-five years Yuri Gagarin became the first human in space Today, we are preparing for the next big leap. To the stars “.
Challenge
There are many problems to be overcome before the first spacecraft able to go to other stars are built.
These include creating miniature cameras, instruments and sensors that fit on a chip, the development of a strong enough solar sail to withstand a powerful laser for several minutes and find a way that images and information new star system can be sent back to Earth.
professor Martin Sweeting, a researcher at the Surrey Space Centre and leader of Surrey Satellite Technology in Guildford, England, wants to be involved in the project.
Sweeting founded a company 30 years reduces the size and cost of the satellites ago.
“Much of what we did in the 80s was considered strange, but now small satellites are in. This (project to go to another star) now sounds like a crazy idea but the technologies have changed and now it is not uncommon, it’s just hard “ he said the BBC.
professor Andrew Coates, Science Laboratory of Mullard Space, which belongs to the University of London, says the project is a challenge, but not impossible.
“But this is worth studying to see if we could really get to another solar system within the lifetime of a human being,” he said.
But Professor Hawking believes that what was once a distant dream can and must become a reality within 30 years.
“there is no greater heights to aspire to the stars themselves. it is not wise to keep all your eggs in one fragile basket” , told the BBC.
“life in Earth is facing dangers of astronomical events like asteroids or supernovae, “he said.
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