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The ship would first drop into an orbit making a close pass to the Sun, to maximize the solar energy input on the sail, then it would begin to accelerate away from the system using the light from the Sun. Acceleration will drop approximately as the inverse square of the distance from the Sun, and beyond some distance, the ship would no longer ...
Another way of understanding the vastness of interstellar distances is by scaling: One of the closest stars to the Sun, Alpha Centauri A (a Sun-like star that is one of two companions of Proxima Centauri), can be pictured by scaling down the Earth–Sun distance to one meter (3.28 ft). On this scale, the distance to Alpha Centauri A would be ...
[59] [60] A Genesis probe would travel at lower speeds, at a speed 4.6% of the speed of light, which would take at least 90 years to get to Alpha Centauri A. The sail could be configured so that the stellar pressure from Alpha Centauri A brakes and deflects the probe toward Alpha Centauri B, where it would arrive after a few days.
Alpha Centauri C is about 13,000 AU (0.21 ly; 1.9 × 10 ^ 12 km) from Alpha Centauri AB, equivalent to about 5% of the distance between Alpha Centauri AB and the Sun. [17] [57] [69] Until 2017, measurements of its small speed and its trajectory were of too little accuracy and duration in years to determine whether it is bound to Alpha Centauri ...
A preliminary mission outline suggests the use of solar sails [4] propelled by high energy lasers to increase propulsion. [4] The proposed launch would be on the 100th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission. [6] The spacecraft would reach Alpha Centauri by the year 2113, 44 years after its launch travelling at 10% of the speed of light. [3]
Sun: 1.58 × 10-5 (149,600,000 km) G2V 1 -26.74 [117] 4.83 [117] The star at the centre of the Solar System. Alpha Centauri A (Rigil Kentaurus) 4.344 ± 0.002: G2V [51] 1.2175 ± 0.0055 [52] 1.0788 ± 0.0029 [52] 0.01 [53] 4.38 [54] It is the 2nd/3rd nearest individual star to the Solar System, and the fourth-brightest individual star in the ...
The obelisks for the four inner planets are all contained within the commons area stretching north towards Seneca Street. Mercury is situated to scale about 12.7 yards (11.6 meters) away from the Sun, Venus another 10 yards (9.1 meters) away, Earth another 9.3 yards (8.5 meters) away, and Mars another 17.1 yards (15.6 meters) away.
The craft was designed to reach and study Alpha Centauri. Starwisp (1985) Starwisp is a hypothetical unmanned interstellar probe design proposed by Robert L. Forward. [47] [48] It is propelled by a microwave sail, similar to a solar sail in concept, but powered by microwaves from an artificial source. Medusa (1990s)