On Tuesday, it was announced that the Russian businessman Yuri Milner and the famous British physicist and cosmologist Stephen Hawking launch the project Breakthrough Starshot worth $ 100 million, the purpose of which – 20 years to deliver mini-robots to the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri.
Since then, the international scientific journalism there were many comments on this exotic project that many feel standing on the verge of fantasy.
the system Alpha Centauri is rather complicated structure. It consists of double stars A and B, which revolve around a common center of gravity in a relatively short distance. In addition, the system has a dwarf star Proxima is separated from the pair distance of about 700 astronomical units.
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100 GW – laser power, which would have to be used to run microprobe.
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20 MW a typical nuclear power
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100 000 000 dollars – this is the initial cost of the project research.
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20 billion dollars – a sum can cost the whole project
WIKI
According to the Hubble space telescope observations in 2013 and 2014 for the star Alpha Centauri B, the scientists suggested the possibility of the existence of this star the planet about the size of Earth, orbiting Alpha Centauri B in less than 20.4 days.
However, the difficulty of observing the system from the Earth, caused by the fact that it is almost invisible in the North hemisphere, astronomers constantly forced to adjust their conclusions. There is evidence that this planet can be in the heart of the inhabited Star zone and have a period of treatment from 80 to 136 days.
The three stars in the system, are the closest to the solar system and separated from it by the average distance about 4.37 light-years, or more than 40 trillion kilometers away.
Why fly precisely these stars
it is obvious that the system chosen by Hawking and Milner simply on the basis of its proximity. However, there are astronomers, who consider it a worthy goal of applied research. First of all, because the two stars A and B are very similar in range to our Sun, though slightly older age – about 6 billion years
Moreover, the star belongs to the class K in this system (red. dwarfs). The stars of this class, as shown by observations of recent years, are extremely resilient, often have a massive planetary systems, and there may be billions of years old, which increases the chances of the existence of Earth-like planets in the habitable stars Area.
Is a new idea of using robots for interstellar travel
The American mathematician and physicist of Hungarian origin John von Neumann scrutinized the idea of self-replicating machines, which he called” universal assemblers. ” They are often referred to as the “von Neumann machines”.
Although von Neumann never considered his work in the annex to the idea of a spaceship, later theorists have done it. Detailed development of this concept when applied to space exploration known as the von Neumann probes.
The idea of using light pressure for interplanetary travel was launched almost immediately after the opening of the pressure physicist PN Lebedev by K. Tsiolkovsky and FA Zander.
However, the real possibility of obtaining desired electromagnetic beam power appeared only after the invention of lasers.
In 1971, Howard Marks report at a symposium in Byurakan (Armenia) has been proposed for interstellar overflights laser X-ray range. Later, the use of this type of engine was investigated by NASA. As a result, was made the following conclusion:
“If it is found possible to create laser operating at X-ray wavelengths, then we can talk about the real development of the aircraft (is accelerated by the beam of the laser), which is able to cover the distance to the nearest the stars significantly faster than any currently known systems with rocket engines. Calculations show that using space systems examined in this study, can reach the star Alpha Centauri … around
10 years. “in 1985, by Robert Forward was offered interstellar probe design which is accelerated by the energy of the microwave radiation. The draft stipulates that the probe will reach the nearest star in 21 years.
Solar sail – the most promising and realistic to date version of the starship.
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What do they think about the new project, scientists
Professor Andrew Coates from the Laboratory for space studies Mallard, part of University College London, said that the proposed Milner and Hawking project is difficult, but not impossible
“We have to solve many serious problems. – the creation of a structure that can withstand the effects of space radiation and interstellar dust, the transmission of information on the enormous distances, the interaction rays booster laser with the earth’s atmosphere, the development of autonomous energy system of the probe. “
The famous American astronomer Freeman Dyson told New newspaper York Times warns that the technical problems to be faced by the creators of interstellar microprobes may be too difficult for modern civilization.
The biggest challenge will be to create a mirror of the sail, which will sustain the momentum of the laser power of more than 100 gigawatts. In addition, Dyson does not believe that such a probe will fly in an absolute vacuum. He believes that interstellar space is filled with dust, ice and solid microparticles.
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