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Can we send faster better equipped craft to move past solar system in a year or two ?
by iamgopal 6mo ago
Can we send faster better equipped craft to move past solar system in a year or two ?
- vitaflo 6mo agoThe planetary alignment that allowed the Voyager probes to move so fast only occurs every 175 years. Even with this advantage it took them 12 years to get to Neptune. So the short answer is no.
- saidinesh5 6mo agoBut without the planetary alignment, can't we just rely on brute force ? Better fuel and bigger engines?
- tredre3 6mo agoThe truth is that, as much as people LOVE bringing it up, the alignment was special only because it allowed us to slingshot from body to body with almost no fuel aboard the probe itself. That's it. Nothing to do with speed. We could launch something that goes way faster right now, if someone wanted to pay for it. Hell, we could have done it 50 years ago. We didn't because it would go in a straight line towards "nothing".
- bpodgursky 6mo agoNASA under Isaacman is newly, more seriously, exploring nuclear propulsion. If they really do pull the trigger, the answer is definitely yes.
- smcin 6mo agoThe next planetary alignment will be in the mid-2150s.
- theandrewbailey 6mo agoNew Horizons made it to Pluto in less than 10 years. Technically faster, but still not a year or two.