The Compelling Facts About Alpha Centauri...

Alpha Centauri is officially the closest star system to Earth. And there are probably even more mysteries about this star system to be revealed. In fact, during our lifetime, we might even have a probe venture the whole entire 4.4 light years to the dual star system. One of the stars that make up this system is classed as a class-k star, meaning that this star in particular has the ability to harbor life, and the habitable zone around this star is even larger than that around Earth! So how are we going to reach this star system? First of all, let's get an idea about just how far away this star is. And for sake of comparison, we'll use the planet Jupiter. This planet is about 43.2 light minutes away from us. This just happens to be a remarkable coincidence; because that distance is equal to about 365 million miles. Before we go on, let's how far Pluto is; the distance to pluto is 2.66 billion miles, or 5.5 hours for light to reach. A light year is equal to nearly six trillion miles. So, one light year= 35,064 light hours. 35,064 divided by 5.5= 6375.26, which means that in order to reach our closest starry neighbor would essentially require us to travel an approximate 6,375.26 (amount of trips) to Pluto. In other words, approximately 2.351e+13 miles. A renowned scientist from Russia named Ruslan Belikov, who's a billionaire, has fairly recently pledged to help an avid american astronomer, who works at NASA called Eduardo Bendek. Belikov is proposing to build a spacecraft, or probe, that could reach Alpha Centauri using a combination of solar energy, as well as an extremely powerful laser to accelerate the craft. This project would supposedly allow the craft to travel at nearly 1/4th the speed of light, (the speed of light is estimated at approx. 5,000 miles per second, or twice around the world). The reason for his decision was supposedly the fact that the american's own project to send a relatively tiny telescope (25 cm) into the universe was basically rejected, so Belikov decided to help out. Recent observations of star systems focus more on the entire universe in general, which means that no single star system is really studied in depth, because that would be too costly, according to Bendek. The original story is included in May 21st issue of New Scientist, pg. 26. Quote from pg. 27, paragraph 2: "This could be a a place so bursting with life that it makes Earth look post-apocalyptic". Now that is something to be said!

Just How Feasible Is The Project?!

Now let's talk about the stuff they don't tell us in the magazine. Just how feasible the project" is still up for debate, of course. There are probably more factors to think about than even I can currently think of. One of the issues involved with space travel is the extreme speed associated with space journeys; it does not take much to practically destroy a craft in space. In fact, something as tiny and seemingly fragile as a chip of paint is enough to cause a major dent in a spacecraft, especially if it is going several times faster than that of current spacecraft. So, while the project is an extremely interesting idea, it comes with some serious issues that must first be solved. There is an immense amount of cosmic debris floating around, and much of it is much more than just a chip of paint! Then comes the issue involving accelerating the craft; in order to accelerate a craft to 20 percent the speed of light, means that the spaceship might undergo extreme forces. And this is especially true if we decide to send people to another place in the universe some day. Such speed would require lots of time to accelerate the craft, so that the passengers do not die! Could we use Belikov's spaceship and give it some other form of propulsion, such as fusion, to make it travel even faster? The craft must be able withstand extreme temperatures and it might even need to travel through corrosive gas clouds. It would probably require greater skill in creating as compared to a Mars Rover. To reach the planet that you want, is phenomenally difficult; Especially is you do not know which planet you are trying to land on! Reaching and landing on one of the moons in our solar system has already proven difficult enough, yet reaching a world that is almost four and a half light years away is a whole other story. It would be something like trying to throw a projectile from the Earth into a basketball net on Pluto! Definitely not easy, as planets are constantly in motion. In fact, a craft to reach our nearest neighboring star would likely need gravity assists from many planets, making the task much more herculean than ever. These are at least some of the most important issues that scientists will need to overcome in the next few decades or so, if we hope to ever reach this "territory" in space.
However, there is one critical thing to keep in mind. To explain this, here is an example: as late as the 18th century or so, many people probably still thought that it would be totally impossible to achieve travel between hundreds or thousands of miles withing a matter of a few hours. Until we created cars, of course. And closer to the 21st century, we are noticing technology that was very recently thought of as simply "impossible". So, space travel to or from a distant solar system might seem impossible now; or is it?! Even though practically all places in this universe are currently practically impossible to get to, there are still scientists who still think that there are "shortcuts" to be found. And sometimes, all it takes, is some common sense; that is what will take us above and beyond, and give us that "Aha!" moment, and that will make use realize that the solution was right beside us; and maybe we just didn't think outside of the box, or maybe it was simply a single mistake that we made when trying to find the solutions, to the cosmic issues facing us today.
Hey, thanks for reading! Take a moment today to listen to some of my cosmic music! This is the music that makes me a better critical thinker! (and listen to the other "cosmic voices" on my profile!) https://soundcloud.com/macm545