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starhoppers t1_jd7fkye wrote

Reply to comment by Kal-El_Skywalker1998 in A New Mission Will Search for Habitable Planets at Alpha Centauri by Aeromarine_eng

Why would it need to be a round trip?

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halfanothersdozen t1_jd7o6oi wrote

It would basically be impossible to receive radio signals from a probe that far away. If you want the data it would have to come back

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starhoppers t1_jd7p0bh wrote

Problem is, during that 32 years we’d probably develop faster propulsion!

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danielravennest t1_jd8w8wh wrote

It's hard to beat a laser-pushed lightsail going 1/8th the speed of light. The downside is the spacecraft will be tiny.

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