Now they're talking...
Apr. 13th, 2016 06:06 pm![[personal profile]](https://www.dreamwidth.org/img/silk/identity/user.png){kind=small}
birguslatroFrom here...
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/breakthrough-starshot-announces-plans-to-send-ship-to-alpha-centauri/
"The small spacecraft will be equipped with a light sail, and a phased array of lasers in the 100GW range will provide the sail with enough push to get the craft moving at roughly 20 percent the speed of light in just a matter of minutes."
That's quite impressive acceleration! The question of how they'd power phoning home wasn't explained though. But after the 20-year trip, adding a lot of redundancy to the bits of data being sent back may be one way, even if it takes a year for one picture to be sent.
This is a yah! moment, anyway. It's over 40 years since we went to the moon, so a wait of less than that to reach the stars is pretty cool. I've certainly the patience for it!
Later: Details, including communications, to be found here...
http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Challenges/3
http://arstechnica.com/science/2016/04/breakthrough-starshot-announces-plans-to-send-ship-to-alpha-centauri/
"The small spacecraft will be equipped with a light sail, and a phased array of lasers in the 100GW range will provide the sail with enough push to get the craft moving at roughly 20 percent the speed of light in just a matter of minutes."
That's quite impressive acceleration! The question of how they'd power phoning home wasn't explained though. But after the 20-year trip, adding a lot of redundancy to the bits of data being sent back may be one way, even if it takes a year for one picture to be sent.
This is a yah! moment, anyway. It's over 40 years since we went to the moon, so a wait of less than that to reach the stars is pretty cool. I've certainly the patience for it!
Later: Details, including communications, to be found here...
http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Challenges/3