Astronomers Found a Way to Reach Alpha Centauri 1,000 Times Faster
By BRIGHT SIDE
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Humanity may be much closer to interstellar travel than anyone expected. Scientists are developing a new kind of spacecraft powered not by fuel… but by light itself. Tiny probes. Giant lasers. Speeds approaching a fraction of light speed. And a mission that could potentially reach another star system within a single human lifetime. Credits: Solar Sail: by Kevin Gill from Nashua, NH, United States CC BY-SA 2.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/2.0/deed.en https://www.flickr.com/photos/kevinmgill/14914129324/ Press Conference at ESO HQ: by ESO CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ Helios spacecraft 2: by NASA https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Helios_spacecraft_2.jpg http://images.ksc.nasa.gov/photos/1974/captions/KSC-74P-0222.html PDS 70 - eso2111b: by ALMA (ESO/NAOJ/NRAO)/Benisty et al. CC BY 4.0 https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by/4.0/ https://www.eso.org/public/images/eso2111b/ Light Sail Probe to Alpha Centauri: by Futurilla CC0 1.0 h
Tags: ai technology, alien planets, alpha centauri, astronomy, astrophysics, brightside, brightsideglobal, curiosities, deep space, earth, exoplanets, faster than light, future of humanity, future science, future technology, interstellar travel, mars travel, mystery, planet, proxima centauri
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