It should be a goal for Earth to send a probe to one of those stars. As the probe will be unmaned, a mission taking a hundred years or more is not out of question.
There are already plans to reach alpha centauri in about 20 years with unmanned probes (1). There still remain some technical hurdles in terms of the laser design to propel these probes afaik but it seems like this could be solved with more funding.
Too bad we are in the current era of eschewing scientific research in favor of crony politics.
One issue with the latter is that tech is likely to advance fast enough that a subsequent probe launched a couple of decades later would overtake the first probe.
I’d still settle for getting the probes out the door because no matter what advancement happens if you can’t get them into space it’s a moot point. I’d simply take something we can reasonably launch into space for research at this point.
Also, I would love to see a lunar base happen in my lifetime
some combination of nuclear radiation and/or solar seems like it would fit the bill? 100 years is within the useful range of a large radioisotope generator.
Solar would not work when you're out past Uranus or so, and the Sun is just a bright star with barely a visible disk. There's simply not enough sunlight out there, and you won't get enough light from your destination(s) star until you're similarly close to it.
RTGs lose power rapidly as the isotopes decay, and any sort of communication over those distances requires massive power. The Voyagers are essentially dead due to this issue, and they haven’t been out there nearly that long.
There are attempts, but they all suck IMHO :( Someday I'll get around to doing this in Three.js for real, if no one beats me to it. It's shocking that we have a million 3D sites to visualize LEO satellites and plenty to visualize the solar system, but our stellar (much less galactic!) neighborhood is all super outdated stuff only.
I guess the sad reality is that these tools aren't that useful for anything but diagramming the odd interstellar rock.
We live in a great neighborhood, but we’re behind on our HOA fees.
It should be a goal for Earth to send a probe to one of those stars. As the probe will be unmaned, a mission taking a hundred years or more is not out of question.
There are already plans to reach alpha centauri in about 20 years with unmanned probes (1). There still remain some technical hurdles in terms of the laser design to propel these probes afaik but it seems like this could be solved with more funding.
Too bad we are in the current era of eschewing scientific research in favor of crony politics.
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot
This project is currently on hold, at least for the long-distance part.
https://www.universetoday.com/articles/starshot-not-get-a-re...
Yeah given the current situation I bet China or India might end up sending those out before us.
One issue with the latter is that tech is likely to advance fast enough that a subsequent probe launched a couple of decades later would overtake the first probe.
Regarding the former, various studies have been made and will certainly continue to be made: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_travel#Designs_an...
Exploration of the Very Local Interstellar Medium (VLISM) will likely come first: https://link.springer.com/article/10.1007/s11214-022-00943-x
I’d still settle for getting the probes out the door because no matter what advancement happens if you can’t get them into space it’s a moot point. I’d simply take something we can reasonably launch into space for research at this point.
Also, I would love to see a lunar base happen in my lifetime
How would it be powered?
some combination of nuclear radiation and/or solar seems like it would fit the bill? 100 years is within the useful range of a large radioisotope generator.
https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Radioisotope_thermoelectric_...
Solar would not work when you're out past Uranus or so, and the Sun is just a bright star with barely a visible disk. There's simply not enough sunlight out there, and you won't get enough light from your destination(s) star until you're similarly close to it.
RTGs lose power rapidly as the isotopes decay, and any sort of communication over those distances requires massive power. The Voyagers are essentially dead due to this issue, and they haven’t been out there nearly that long.
What about a fission reactor?
I swear there used to be a 3d map that you could navigate, rotate zoom in zoom out of local space, but I can't find it anymore.
Does anyone else remember that or am I imagining it? I think it was like 10 years ago
are you thinking about 100,000 stars? https://stars.chromeexperiments.com
Stellarium? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stellarium_(software)
Celestia https://celestiaproject.space/
There are attempts, but they all suck IMHO :( Someday I'll get around to doing this in Three.js for real, if no one beats me to it. It's shocking that we have a million 3D sites to visualize LEO satellites and plenty to visualize the solar system, but our stellar (much less galactic!) neighborhood is all super outdated stuff only.
I guess the sad reality is that these tools aren't that useful for anything but diagramming the odd interstellar rock.
https://www.reddit.com/r/askastronomy/comments/1bhklhd/what_...
https://chview.nova.org/solcom/index.html
edit: crossreference with https://gruze.org/galaxymap/map_2020/