IPB

Welcome Guest ( Log In | Register )

Yuri Milner breakthrough mission to Alpha Centauri
Guest_mcmcmc_*
post Nov 15 2018, 08:53 AM
Post #1





Guests






https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/about

Laser-powered nanocrafts headed to Alpha Centauri:
QUOTE
Breakthrough Starshot is a $100 million research and engineering program aiming to demonstrate proof of concept for a new technology, enabling ultra-light unmanned space flight at 20% of the speed of light; and to lay the foundations for a flyby mission to Alpha Centauri within a generation.



Which are the engineering challenges?
http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/challenges/3

Yuri Milner twitter feed (official?): https://twitter.com/yurimilner


Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post
 
Start new topic
Replies
Gerald
post Nov 15 2018, 09:48 PM
Post #2


Senior Member
****

Group: Members
Posts: 2346
Joined: 7-December 12
Member No.: 6780



Frankly speaking, this approach doesn't look like anything feasible to my eyes.
I'd think, that the only technically feasible way to reach 20% of the speed of light would be a linear motor similar to a linear particle accelerator. The probe would need to be really tiny and robust, and take the role of the accelerated particle. Tiny because of the huge amount of energy required, a back-of-an-envelope calculation returned several tera watts for a one gram probe. And robust due to the incredibly high acceleration, at least.
Provided, such a tiny probe can be accelerated to the presumed velocity, and it won't be destroyed by interplanetary or interstellar matter, how will it be able to send back data over a distance of several light years? The incredibly robust tiny bullet would need to unfold into a huge antenna of presumably an average layer thickness of less than an atom, with a well-defined parabolic shape, and pointed accurately to Earth.
I think, it's less than 1% science and more than 99% fiction in a world with finite ressources.
Go to the top of the page
 
+Quote Post

Posts in this topic


Reply to this topicStart new topic

 



RSS Lo-Fi Version Time is now: 29th March 2024 - 12:38 AM
RULES AND GUIDELINES
Please read the Forum Rules and Guidelines before posting.

IMAGE COPYRIGHT
Images posted on UnmannedSpaceflight.com may be copyrighted. Do not reproduce without permission. Read here for further information on space images and copyright.

OPINIONS AND MODERATION
Opinions expressed on UnmannedSpaceflight.com are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily reflect the opinions of UnmannedSpaceflight.com or The Planetary Society. The all-volunteer UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderation team is wholly independent of The Planetary Society. The Planetary Society has no influence over decisions made by the UnmannedSpaceflight.com moderators.
SUPPORT THE FORUM
Unmannedspaceflight.com is funded by the Planetary Society. Please consider supporting our work and many other projects by donating to the Society or becoming a member.