dustofdeath t1_iu1oy0y wrote on October 27, 2022 at 10:05 PM

We may archive 1% (voyager is at 0.005%) of light speed for probes in the near future.

Proxima is 4.6 light years.

460 years at that speed.

But you also need time to speed up and slow down. So ~900 years + extra to transmit data.

Even if we could achieve 90% of light speed in minutes, we would spend a eternity slowing down.

Redbelly98 t1_iu2tam0 wrote on October 28, 2022 at 3:16 AM

It is a huge leap to go from 0.005% to 1% of the speed of light.

I'm of the mind that thousands of years is an optimistic estimate, but minimally realistic.

dustofdeath t1_iu37mfb wrote on October 28, 2022 at 5:41 AM

Accelerating is easier - solar sails or lasers for example. But slowing down is a problem.

Redbelly98 t1_iu572d6 wrote on October 28, 2022 at 5:07 PM

Solar sails will not work well in interstellar space. As for lasers, far from Earth (or wherever the laser is located), the beam will be spreading out from diffraction -- at which point its power is subject to an inverse-square-law dependence.

dustofdeath t1_iu57qau wrote on October 28, 2022 at 5:12 PM

You only need to accelerate once, you won't really slow down after that.