How Will We Get to Alpha Centauri?

Key Takeaways

about 4.3 light years from Earth lies our closest stellar neighborhood the Alpha Centauri system consists of three known stars Alpha Centauri a and Alpha Centauri B are a binary pair which means the orbit a common center of mass the third star Proxima Centauri is the closest to Earth at about four point two two light-years away in 2016 astronomers detected an earth-sized planet orbiting Proxima Centauri within the star's habitable zone the right distance to potentially support liquid water on its surface which is why eyes are on Alpha Centauri as our first destination once we master interstellar travel so is this deep-space journey possible in our lifetime and if so how will we get there outer space is bigger than we can comprehend and sending a spacecraft into its depths takes a lot of time NASA's Voyager 1 is Earth's farthest 2 spacecraft to date it was launched in 1977 and in 2012 it was the first craft to enter interstellar space Voyager 1 was pointed in the direction of Alpha Centauri it would still take tens of thousands of years to reach the system and that's because its propulsion system is not ideal for deep space travel so clearly we need a faster way to get to our stellar neighbors some scientists believe that our best attempt at interstellar travel our light sails these sails would be made of ultra thin sheets that would be propelled using light instead of wind one of the major initiatives researching their potential is breakthrough starshot the program initially backed by late cosmologists Stephen Hawking aims to create a nano craft comprised of a light sail and a gram scale wafer that hosts a number of instruments called a starship the nano craft has a mirror-like sail design and is measured at ten square meters with a mass of less than one gram by comparison a penny weighs 2.5 grams so these spacecraft will be ultralight the light sail will purportedly be accelerated by laser radiation pressure from earth at about 20% the speed of light the planned laser array called a light Beamer will fire beams as powerful as 100 gigawatts of specific wavelengths of near-infrared light the nano craft sail would need to reflect a huge majority of the laser light to avoid instantly burning up on contact the idea is to launch thousands of nano crafts at once to increase the chances that at least a few will conquer the elements and reach Alpha Centauri if they do make it it's estimated that journey will only take around 20 years though some critics are skeptical about the ability to execute breakthrough starshot some of the world's greatest minds are actively working to make it a reality the project is pushing the boundaries of science challenging humans to create an entirely new material that meets all the extreme needs of the light sails and to design the largest laser ever constructed but if engineers and scientists are able to perfect these pint-sized spacecraft and we achieve interstellar travel humanity will be rewarded with an entirely new understanding of the alien worlds beyond our own if you're looking to learn more about space exploration and astronomical phenomena be sure to watch this episode of space crafts and don't forget to subscribe to seeker for all things science thanks for watching