4 ms·
It takes light 40 years to get there and back at 1,079,252,849 km/h, and the fastest spacecraft we have currently are the Helios Solar Probes at 252,792 km/h -
by nopassrecover 15y ago
It takes light 40 years to get there and back at 1,079,252,849 km/h, and the fastest spacecraft we have currently are the Helios Solar Probes at 252,792 km/h - it would take over 170,000 years before the probe returned.
- pohl 15y agoLet's grant the speed of light on the return side. Say we invent a method of transmitting probe data using radio waves or something.
- nooneelse 15y agoGetting data back via radio seems physically realistic using the gravitational lensing of EM by our sun. It would require us to put a receiving and relay station very var out beyond the planets, at least 550AU, I think. But by the time we are sending a probe several light years, then 550AU should practically be child's play. A good paper about using such lensing: "Interstellar radio links enhanced by exploiting the Sun as a Gravitational Lens" by Claudio Maccone.