Travelling to another solar system… in 20 years?

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Reaching another star has always seemed impossible within a human lifetime—but new scientific ideas are changing that. Researchers are exploring extreme propulsion methods that could send probes to Alpha Centauri, our nearest star system 4.25 light-years away, in just decades instead of thousands of years.
Projects like Breakthrough Starshot aim to use powerful lasers to push ultra-light solar sails to nearly 20% the speed of light, potentially reaching the star in about 20 years. Another proposal uses a relativistic electron beam fired from near the Sun to push a heavier spacecraft, possibly making the journey in around 40 years.
These concepts face huge engineering challenges, but they show interstellar travel is shifting from science fiction toward real science.

Quoted from Facebook, a reputable source. Fascinating if true.

 

[citruscurtis]

...oh the possibilities

 

[LuvOrlando]

Lofty dreams, the Jetsons indicated high expectations too and yet here we are.... just goes to show if you can speak it into consciousness someone will invest in it and make the speaker of those dreams very rich. I'll believe it when I see it.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Lofty dreams, the Jetsons indicated high expectations too and yet here we are.... just goes to show if you can speak it into consciousness someone will invest in it and make the speaker of those dreams very rich. I'll believe it when I see it.

I doubt we'll be travelling to another star any time soon, but it raises the possibility of travelling to Mars and RETURNING. Journey time would be days, perhaps weeks, not a prohibitive amount of time as it is at the moment. I'd imagine that they'd first attempt an unmanned mission using these new technologies, in say a few decades? Then who knows?

 

[LuvOrlando]

I doubt we'll be travelling to another star any time soon, but it raises the possibility of travelling to Mars and RETURNING. Journey time would be days, perhaps weeks, not a prohibitive amount of time as it is at the moment.

Have you read about the damage to bones and muscles from space travel? I can't imagine Mars would be less destructive. From a pragmatic standpoint I expect length of travel time would be the least worrisome thing in play if such a thing ever came to pass.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Have you read about the damage to bones and muscles from space travel? I can't imagine Mars would be less destructive. From a pragmatic standpoint I expect length of travel time would be the least worrisome thing in play if such a thing ever came to pass.

I think more pressing is the problem of solar radiation. To counter this you'd need to line any space craft with lead incluidng any outpost on the moon or Mars.

 

[kanerf]

Most manned Mars trips being discussed are one-way. You can get there, but won't have the fuel to get back. Elon Musk has posited sending crews of robots to Mars first where they would construct living quarters and drill for underground ice that could be used for water for the settlement and hydrogen gas to use for fuel for a return trip.

 

[Cannot_Wait_4Disney]

LOL we were supposed to send men to Mars last year and we didn't even make it back to the moon yet.

No. We won't be traveling to other solar systems in 20 years.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Most manned Mars trips being discussed are one-way. You can get there, but won't have the fuel to get back. Elon Musk has posited sending crews of robots to Mars first where they would construct living quarters and drill for underground ice that could be used for water for the settlement and hydrogen gas to use for fuel for a return trip.

In theory, some of the new technologies COULD offer a return journey - one that would take a few weeks, not months. And there are a LOT of competing systems - one being floated by a startup in the UK, another in Russia. What I find AMAZING is that Arthur C. Clarke is turning out to be so right in his novels, 2001, 2010 and 2069. I haven't read 3001 yet, but apparently it's a corker too. Not in time frames, but in the technologies and schematics being floated. It's all a matter of time, IMO. As new technology comes to light in the coming decades, we'll only get closer to that amazing goal - to set foot on a world beyond the moon.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

I mean, we're closer that we think… We've set men on the moon, played golf on the moon, we've sent drones to Venus, Mars, even asteroids, we've flown helicopters on Mars, we've even sent probes almost one LIGHT DAY away beyond the realms of our solar system powered on 64k of RAM and an 8-track device that still works! Maybe we won't set a man on Mars in 20 years, that is overly ambitious, but to think that we shall forever be married to Earth? Seems doubtful. Unless of course we're all wiped out by some cataclysm before we get to Mars...

 

[_19disnA]

Using known/current technologies it will take a VERY long time to send any type of manned spacecraft to Mars or beyond. Likely would be one-way as mentioned previously since the weight of expendables would be too great for a round trip as well as the long time such travel would take. E. Musk obviously wants to create a demand for rockets to Mars since he just happens to own a company making rockets. Manned space travel needs to bring along things like food/oxygen/water to keep the astronauts alive while some unmanned craft wouldn't need those things.

It still remains ENORMOUSLY expensive to send manned space craft into orbit and beyond Earth. A few components may be reuseable, but I am not aware of anything that will reduce the huge fixed costs. Going to the Moon, Mars or beyond has never been shown to be economically viable so that is why govts have to fund such projects. The private sector needs to show a return on their investment or else they go bankrupt. I have never heard anyone say they can make money going to the Moon or Mars allowing manned space travel to pay for itself (much less turn a profit). Even if the Moon was made of solid gold/platinum (which clearly it isn't), the logistic costs to go there, mine it and return it to Earth would exceed the value derived. So even if something is theoretically possible, there are still the practical aspects of how much it would cost and who is going to fund it.

Exotic propulsion systems are all theoretical and no one knows if they will ever evolve into something practical. We are still trying to figure out what to do with radioactive waste from nuclear reactors and even though large amounts of money have been spent over the last 50+ yrs, we still have no solution. More money for research doesn't guarantee a successful outcome regardless of what it is for. Fusion power gets mentioned a lot as potentially providing unlimited electricity on Earth, but that too remains something only theoretically possible. No one has ever produced a self-sustaining fusion reaction, much less use it to produce commercially viable electricity. Just because something is theoretically possible doesn't mean it will ever happen and unlikely to occur in the next 20 yrs.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

Using known/current technologies it will take a VERY long time to send any type of manned spacecraft to Mars or beyond. Likely would be one-way as mentioned previously since the weight of expendables would be too great for a round trip as well as the long time such travel would take. E. Musk obviously wants to create a demand for rockets to Mars since he just happens to own a company making rockets. Manned space travel needs to bring along things like food/oxygen/water to keep the astronauts alive while some unmanned craft wouldn't need those things.

It still remains ENORMOUSLY expensive to send manned space craft into orbit and beyond Earth. A few components may be reuseable, but I am not aware of anything that will reduce the huge fixed costs. Going to the Moon, Mars or beyond has never been shown to be economically viable so that is why govts have to fund such projects. The private sector needs to show a return on their investment or else they go bankrupt. I have never heard anyone say they can make money going to the Moon or Mars allowing manned space travel to pay for itself (much less turn a profit). Even if the Moon was made of solid gold/platinum (which clearly it isn't), the logistic costs to go there, mine it and return it to Earth would exceed the value derived. So even if something is theoretically possible, there are still the practical aspects of how much it would cost and who is going to fund it.

Exotic propulsion systems are all theoretical and no one knows if they will ever evolve into something practical. We are still trying to figure out what to do with radioactive waste from nuclear reactors and even though large amounts of money have been spent over the last 50+ yrs, we still have no solution. More money for research doesn't guarantee a successful outcome regardless of what it is for. Fusion power gets mentioned a lot as potentially providing unlimited electricity on Earth, but that too remains something only theoretically possible. No one has ever produced a self-sustaining fusion reaction, much less use it to produce commercially viable electricity. Just because something is theoretically possible doesn't mean it will ever happen and unlikely to occur in the next 20 yrs.

Nevertheless, progress is inevitable. It's simply a matter of when - not it. Unless, as I said, a mass extinction occurs before we manage to visit another planet in person.

 

[anrew]

I just hope we’ll be able to travel at all. It feels like angry, greedy men are trying to destroy this planet. Speculative future travel topics are fun because they mix science, imagination, and philosophy. Thinking about interstellar trips makes everyday travel feel simple. While planning a vacation rental, I ended up reading vrbo reviews and it made me think how accommodation choices shape travel memories now — imagine that on a space scale. Conversations like this spark curiosity more than answers. Technology keeps surprising us anyway. It’ll be interesting to see what actually becomes possible.

 

[Neapolitan Ice Cream]

I just hope we’ll be able to travel at all. It feels like angry, greedy men are trying to destroy this planet.

A deeper truth has never been told...

 

[LuvOrlando]

This is making me think of Total Recall and Kuato