2 ms·

The idea is, you launch a large number of probes, accelerated one by one, working so that they'll arrive at the same time to the same star (Proxima Centauri).

by mlyle 2y ago

The idea is, you launch a large number of probes, accelerated one by one, working so that they'll arrive at the same time to the same star (Proxima Centauri). If you lose a bunch, no problem. They'll be spread out over a big distance, but team up to do imaging and to return data from that star.

SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
> They'll be spread out over a big distance Compared to the distance that you'd go to get a coffee, yes. Compared to the distance to Proxima Centauri, oh hell no. Compared to that distance, they travel as a pack. There's about a "402 million to 1" ratio between the two distances, 100 000km size of the swarm vs the 40,208,000,000,000 km distance to Proxima Centauri. https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/features/cosmic/nearest_star_info.html https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/features/cosmic/nearest_star_i... A swarm 100 000km wide could in its entirety pass between the Earth and the Moon with room to spare. https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/180561main_ETM.Distance.Moon_.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/180561main_E...
- mlyle 2y ago
  Yes, of course. We all know these numbers. I teach a space engineering class where students chirp out in recitation "400km to LEO, 40,000 km to GEO, 400,000 km to the moon". The degree of "well acktually" trying to be pedantic here is unnecessary. If a swarm of bees goes a couple of miles away, they don't spread out over a couple of mile distance. They are a relatively tight pack that then goes to the new place and then converges to be quite small. That's the same as what this mission is. 100,000 km is quite small as far as interstellar distances are concerned, but quite big as far as an aperture for distributed imaging or beamforming (and for avoiding hazards that are hard to see beforehand). The latter, of course, is what actually matters.
  - SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
    My apologies, I was not trying to be pedantic or to correct you. It's for other readers too and does not contradict, really. FWIW, I looked up those numbers because I do not have them memorised. The typical reader here seems even less informed than that, and they would benefit - I don't think that "we all know these numbers".
    - mlyle 2y ago
      Seems like I should be the one apologizing; it's hard to know tone online, and I thought you were trying to assert it wasn't a swarm like the other people. Sorry about that. (P.S. they're not the right numbers; just the right orders of magnitude).

by mlyle 2y ago

SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago

> They'll be spread out over a big distance Compared to the distance that you'd go to get a coffee, yes. Compared to the distance to Proxima Centauri, oh hell no. Compared to that distance, they travel as a pack. There's about a "402 million to 1" ratio between the two distances, 100 000km size of the swarm vs the 40,208,000,000,000 km distance to Proxima Centauri. https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/features/cosmic/nearest_star_info.html https://imagine.gsfc.nasa.gov/features/cosmic/nearest_star_i... A swarm 100 000km wide could in its entirety pass between the Earth and the Moon with room to spare. https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/180561main_ETM.Distance.Moon_.pdf https://www.nasa.gov/wp-content/uploads/2009/07/180561main_E...

mlyle 2y ago
Yes, of course. We all know these numbers. I teach a space engineering class where students chirp out in recitation "400km to LEO, 40,000 km to GEO, 400,000 km to the moon". The degree of "well acktually" trying to be pedantic here is unnecessary. If a swarm of bees goes a couple of miles away, they don't spread out over a couple of mile distance. They are a relatively tight pack that then goes to the new place and then converges to be quite small. That's the same as what this mission is. 100,000 km is quite small as far as interstellar distances are concerned, but quite big as far as an aperture for distributed imaging or beamforming (and for avoiding hazards that are hard to see beforehand). The latter, of course, is what actually matters.
- SideburnsOfDoom 2y ago
  My apologies, I was not trying to be pedantic or to correct you. It's for other readers too and does not contradict, really. FWIW, I looked up those numbers because I do not have them memorised. The typical reader here seems even less informed than that, and they would benefit - I don't think that "we all know these numbers".
  - mlyle 2y ago
    Seems like I should be the one apologizing; it's hard to know tone online, and I thought you were trying to assert it wasn't a swarm like the other people. Sorry about that. (P.S. they're not the right numbers; just the right orders of magnitude).