I think it is possible, given the near-perfect vacuum of space. I think space engineers should start by trying to fire a golfball-sized probe towards Proxima Centauri, at about 99% of the speed of light. Maybe it'll take a century or two before engineers are able to achieve this sort of speed. Near-light-speed travel is very interesting and inviting because the crew wouldn't age (much) during the journey. Non-physicists sometimes make statements like, "even at the speed of light, it would take 4 years to reach Alpha Centauri," but, in fact, this is completely wrong. The journey time can be as short as you like, given a speed near enough to 299792.458 km per second. (Light takes about a twentieth of a second to cross the diameter of Earth. The Voyager 1 spacecraft would take 13 minutes. A craft ten times faster than Voyager would take about 1 minute. A craft ten times faster than this would take about 8 seconds. A craft ten times faster than this...)
2006-09-25
04:08:42
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10 answers
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asked by
martin48732
1