4 ms·

> personally it seems strange they wouldn't send a simple probe If we detected something we thought was intelligent life, could we send a probe like you descri

• shakezula 4y ago
  Could we feasibly send one? Yes. Could we feasibly get data back from it? Less certain. It would necessarily be a multi-generational project in either case.
• spacedcowboy 4y ago
  I mean we physically could send a probe... We effectively have, with "VGER". At some point, the voyager probes will hit another star system, it's just going to be a very very long time. If we actually wanted to aim a probe at another star system, I think that's probably within our technical grasp, but again we don't have any real way to get there in a reasonable timescale, or send data back once we're there. Not much use sending a probe 4 light years if the transmitter isn't powerful enough to send a signal back, and a transmitter that powerful would probably be too large to fit on a probe we could currently launch. Perhaps lasers could be used, but you'd still need a fairly powerful one, and then you have to worry about interstellar absorption of the signal if you go through a dust "cloud". I guess with a laser you're also really pinpointing where you're sending information to, if you care about that. [edit: huh, shakezula and I think alike :)]
  • jointpdf 4y ago
    So what if we sent a bunch of them, and chain them together? (i.e. like a relay network: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay_network https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relay_network)
  • schwartzworld 4y ago
    > Not much use sending a probe 4 light years if the transmitter isn't powerful enough to send a signal back And that's only if we're lucky enough to find life next door.