People were able to land on the moon and are going to do it again. Mars is being explored by rovers, and space probes have been sent to the outer reaches of the solar system. But how to quickly get to our closest star system, Alpha Centauri? Will people ever be able to do this? The Alpha Centauri star system is approximately 44.4 light years away (about 40 trillion km), and is the closest to Earth. This system contains three stars: Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B and Procyma Centauri, which is believed to be orbited by a habitable planet. This artist’s impression shows the planet orbiting the star Alpha Centauri B, a member of the triple star system that is the closest to Earth. Calculations by NASA scientists have shown that current spaceships will be able to reach Alpha Centauri in about 150 thousand years, taking into account modern engines. But if it were possible to travel at the speed of light, such a flight would take about 4 years. But the laws of physics say that only particles that have no mass, that is, photons or particles of light, can travel at the maximum known speed in space. Therefore, some scientists believe that people will never be able to get into the Alpha Centauri system, but others believe that this is possible in a not very long period of time, albeit with the help of unmanned missions. That is, you need to use the lightest possible spacecraft that can reach a speed slightly lower than the speed of light due to lasers or sunlight. For example, Marshall Eubanks, CEO of Space Initiatives Inc., believes that a swarm of tiny probes could be sent to the Alpha Centauri star system to explore it. Tiny spacecraft need less energy to move, so they can reach very high speeds. Tiny spacecraft need less energy to move, so they can reach very high speeds. Philip Lubin of the University of California, Santa Barbara, says either sunlight or lasers should be used to speed up the probes. To move quickly in space, the device needs to be small and have a small mass. It can be powered by either a solar sail, which uses a pulse of sunlight, or a photonic sail, which uses a pulse of a laser beam. “We are in the midst of a real revolution in space flight and space exploration, with extremely small systems,” Eubanks told Live Science in an email. “While an individual small spacecraft will not be as capable as a larger spacecraft, such as the Voyagers, their development times are much shorter; they are relatively inexpensive.” Both provide the necessary acceleration for a small device. According to Lubin, if you imagine the probe as a sailing ship, then solar or laser light in this case will be a tailwind. Scientists believe that there are no physical obstacles to accelerating the spacecraft to almost the speed of light, which will allow it to reach the Alpha Centauri system as quickly as possible. According to scientists, such a probe could take close-up pictures of not only the stars in the system, but also a potentially habitable planet. While Lubin believes that such a mission will not take place any time soon, Eubanks is confident that it will take place within this century. He envisions small probes launching as early as the 2040s and reaching the Alpha Centauri system in the 2060s. As for large spacecraft, Eubanks believes that they will be able to go to nearby stars at the end of the 21st century. Scientists believe that if there is some breakthrough in the development of new propulsion technologies, then people on a spaceship will be able to go to Alpha Centauri in the 22nd century. It is likely that this mission will definitely last not 4 years, but much longer. The post We will be able to reach the Alpha Centauri in our lifetime appeared first on Anomalien.com.