4 ms·

So how long would it take to get there with current technology?

arethuza 9y ago
Depends what you mean by "current technology" - Orion style ships (i.e. throw H-bombs out the back and hang on tight) were estimated to be able to get to 0.1c. So perhaps 110 years? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propuls...
- ourmandave 9y ago
  Assuming you're going .1c, how do slow down on your approach? Fire h-bombs out the front?
  - arethuza 9y ago
    Pretty much - turn the ship around and fire forwards. Alternatively you could try lithobraking which would be quite spectacular at that speed!
rukittenme 9y ago
82,000 years at 25 miles per second (speed of Juno).
joshuamcginnis 9y ago
The article states the planet is 11 light-years away from our solar system. Assuming you travel at around 60K km/h / 40K mph (roughly the speed of the New Horizons probe), it would take about 220,000 total Earth years to arrive.
beefman 9y ago
We have no operational space ships, so with current technology we will never get there. The fastest feasible technology for human-carrying ships is the fission fragment rocket, with a burnout velocity of about 0.1c. That's 40 years to Proxima b. An 11 ly trip to this world would not be feasible, because a multi-generational ship with the payload fraction needed to hit 0.1c is not feasible. Probes can be much lighter, enabling higher payload fractions and faster trips.
- aaronblohowiak 9y ago
  What happens if you hit dust going that fast?
  - topspin 9y ago
    Plasma.
colechristensen 9y ago
Do you want to build a colony there? Send back pictures? or just hit it with a rock? Right now, between 10,000 and 100,000 years. Under 100 years is probably outside of possible without some fundamental breakthrough which we can't forsee. (and at this point it matters from whose perspective the time is measured) Between 100 and 10,000 is the realm of at least plausible science fiction. We don't _have_ any technology for interstellar travel because nobody has developed it.
topspin 9y ago
You see a few replies mentioning 0.1c... I suppose that's as good a fantasy as any. Given a 0.1c peek velocity you need about 150 years to traverse 11ly assuming a linear acceleration/deceleration curve with some sort of high efficiency electric propulsion. How one powers such a drive for a century is a problem. Another is dealing with interstellar dust you collide with at 30,000 km/s. Just engineering a complex machine reliable enough to continue functioning that long is seriously tough problem. It's not feasible at this point.
- wallace_f 9y ago
  I wonder how much dust in-between solar systems is travelling at arbitrary speeds relative to our galaxy. In other words, even at lower speeds what are the chances some specks of dust are travelling at dangerous speeds? That's a lot of distance to cover.

Depends what you mean by "current technology" - Orion style ships (i.e. throw H-bombs out the back and hang on tight) were estimated to be able to get to 0.1c. So perhaps 110 years? https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propuls...

ourmandave 9y ago
Assuming you're going .1c, how do slow down on your approach? Fire h-bombs out the front?
- arethuza 9y ago
  Pretty much - turn the ship around and fire forwards. Alternatively you could try lithobraking which would be quite spectacular at that speed!

rukittenme 9y ago

82,000 years at 25 miles per second (speed of Juno).

joshuamcginnis 9y ago

The article states the planet is 11 light-years away from our solar system. Assuming you travel at around 60K km/h / 40K mph (roughly the speed of the New Horizons probe), it would take about 220,000 total Earth years to arrive.

beefman 9y ago

We have no operational space ships, so with current technology we will never get there. The fastest feasible technology for human-carrying ships is the fission fragment rocket, with a burnout velocity of about 0.1c. That's 40 years to Proxima b. An 11 ly trip to this world would not be feasible, because a multi-generational ship with the payload fraction needed to hit 0.1c is not feasible. Probes can be much lighter, enabling higher payload fractions and faster trips.

aaronblohowiak 9y ago
What happens if you hit dust going that fast?
- topspin 9y ago
  Plasma.

colechristensen 9y ago

Do you want to build a colony there? Send back pictures? or just hit it with a rock? Right now, between 10,000 and 100,000 years. Under 100 years is probably outside of possible without some fundamental breakthrough which we can't forsee. (and at this point it matters from whose perspective the time is measured) Between 100 and 10,000 is the realm of at least plausible science fiction. We don't _have_ any technology for interstellar travel because nobody has developed it.

topspin 9y ago

You see a few replies mentioning 0.1c... I suppose that's as good a fantasy as any. Given a 0.1c peek velocity you need about 150 years to traverse 11ly assuming a linear acceleration/deceleration curve with some sort of high efficiency electric propulsion. How one powers such a drive for a century is a problem. Another is dealing with interstellar dust you collide with at 30,000 km/s. Just engineering a complex machine reliable enough to continue functioning that long is seriously tough problem. It's not feasible at this point.

wallace_f 9y ago
I wonder how much dust in-between solar systems is travelling at arbitrary speeds relative to our galaxy. In other words, even at lower speeds what are the chances some specks of dust are travelling at dangerous speeds? That's a lot of distance to cover.