The Next Great Leap in Human History
- netrom88
- Apr 13, 2016
- 3 min read
That is what Yuri Milner, a Russian entrepeneur and physicist called it during a presentation today, April 12th, 2016. Joining him was Stephen Hawking, as well as other prominent scientists and engineers. They all spoke about the vision they have regarding what they were there to present.
Interstellar travel.
Milner started it off by talking about previous leaps in human history. He talked about how seafarers throughout centuries and millennia used the stars to navigate their way to new discoveries. Now, he said, it is time that humans navigate to the stars themselves.
One star in particular was the focus of this presentation. It is called Alpha Centauri, and is the closest star to our own, only a little more than four light years away, or 25 trillion miles. Trillion. It is to serve as a target destination for a new type of spacecraft that was outlined in the presentation.
Four light years, of course, is not a measurement of time, but of distance. It is the distance light travels over a period of four years. As a species, human beings have not been able to produce anything that's even close to achieve the speed of light. It was mentioned that a spacecraft currently roaming away from us throughout space, called Voyager, would have been passing Alpha Centauri right about now, if it was launched approximately 75 000 years ago.
Milner explained how we need something faster in order to reach the stars within our lifetime. It has to be faster, lighter, and smaller than what we are currently launching into space. He went on to mention how technology in a few key areas has progressed far enough for us to achieve a decent fraction of light speed.
Firstly, Milner explained how cell-phone technology made the size of microelectronic components decrease dramatically.
Secondly, he said that advances in nanotechnology have made it possible to create thinner and lighter sails, which can be used for travel in space.
And lastly, he spoke about developments within photonics, the technology of light. He explained how, with the help of lasers this new type of spacecraft would be able to reach great speeds.
Milner showed a sort of prototype of the proposed spacecraft, called a Nanocraft, which looked like a computer chip, but it was said to have the ability to capture different kinds of scientific data. It was small enough to be held between two fingers, and it would be the key component to get to Alpha Centauri.
With the help of a "lightsail" and lasers, the craft would be able to achieve 20% of the speed of light. That means that the craft would be able to reach Alpha Centauri in 20 years.
Over the course of its journey, the craft would be able to collect data that nobody has ever been able to collect before. It would send this data back to earth at the speed of light, meaning that the information collected four light years away would only take 4 years to get back to earth.
Mankind has always been fascinated by the stars. Here, it seems, is our first chance to actually get closer to them in a real way.
People constantly wonder whether we're alone in the universe or not. This might help give us that answer. It seems like this project might be able to provide a lot of answers for questions that humans have been asking for a very long time.
This is very exciting news, and while it's still some time away from being reality, it might just live up to what the presenters today called the next great leap in human history.
If you want to see the presentation for yourself, follow this link: https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=c7VPHGjT8A4
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