By Sarah Rush
Spring 2017 Intern
Remember those glow-in-the-dark
stars, moons and planets you could stick onto your bedroom ceiling? I do—I used
to fall asleep below them, dreaming of outer space and galaxies filled with
strange planets and even stranger life-forms. I’ve always been fascinated by
astronomy, and movies like The Fifth
Element and the Star Wars series left me thirsting to see deep space travel
become a reality. But when I consider just how far even a single light-year is
(try to imagine nearly six
trillion miles of mostly empty space!), my hopes are dashed. How could any
man-made spacecraft travel so far in a reasonable time?
Introducing Breakthrough Starshot,
a research program developed by Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner along with
Stephen Hawking and other scientists. The program
is designed to send lightweight spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, our nearest star
system, to collect primary data about it for the first time in human history. The
system consists of two stars and a red dwarf, and lies “only” 4.37
light-years away. To cross this incredible distance—over 26 trillion miles—the
spacecraft must travel at a
reasonable fraction of the speed of light or it would take thousands of years
to reach our celestial neighbor.
The solution lies in the evolving
technology of the nanocraft: a one-gram computer chip equipped with cameras and
other hardware attached to a laser
sail, a special fabric that can withstand extreme temperatures. Thousands
of these spacecraft would be launched into space. An arrangement of lasers
nearly a mile across would then shoot powerful beams from Earth at the sails to
heat them up, causing them to propel toward Alpha Centauri at about 20 percent the
speed of light. (Check out a simulation of the project here!)
It’ll still take nearly 20 years
for the nanocraft to reach Alpha Centauri, but once they do, they’ll take
pictures and collect other indispensible data about the star system. Some
scientists even believe that planets might exist somewhere in the system!
If the program sounds too good to
be true, that’s because right now, it is. Achieving
the project would cost billions of
dollars, and it is predicted to take 20 more years of research and development
before the launch even becomes a possibility.
But for those science fiction fans
out there like me, we’ll hold our breath in the hope that Breakthrough Starshot
becomes a reality, and that many of the mysteries of Alpha Centauri are solved.
If Breakthrough Starshot is a success, just imagine where else we could explore!
Did You Know?
Engineers have developed solar
roadways, roads paved in solar panels. The roads are designed to generate
solar energy, charge electric cars and make driving safer—they contain LED
lights for road signs as well as heating elements to melt snow and ice. While
some doubt its durability and cost efficiency, others hope that solar roadways
might eventually replace traditional pavement.
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