From Earth to Proxima Centauri in 20 Years: The Project Breakthrough Starshot

In 2016, the La Silla Observatory in Chile identified Proxima b, the closest exoplanet known to us today: it orbits in the habitable belt of its own star, Proxima Centauri, a red dwarf located 4.2 light years away. from us, in the direction of the Centaurus constellation.
Proxima Centauri is part of the Alpha Centauri system, a triple system consisting of a yellow dwarf and an orange dwarf very close to each other and from Proxima. Proxima is a red dwarf, probably the most widespread stellar type in the Milky Way
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The Breakthrough Starshot, is a project , the goal is to move From Earth to Proxima Centauri in 20 Years.
According to statistics, it is estimated that Proxima Centauri produces flares of this magnitude at least five times a year. Evryscope, a series of small telescopes that observe the stars in the southern hemisphere, detected a superflare that made Proxima 70 times brighter in 2016.
The planetary system of Proxima Centauri have inspired several projects. Among the best known, the Breakthrough Starshot, also born from the Breakthrough Initiatives. Starshot is a research and engineering project announced in 2016 and born to develop a fleet of sailing interstellar probes and laser propulsion. It was founded by Yuri Milner, Stephen Hawking and Mark Zuckerberg. In 2017, NASA also proposed a probe to look for biosignatures on the planets around the stars of the Alpha Centauri system. The launch, taking place by 2069, would celebrate the 100th anniversary of the Apollo 11 mission.
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Credits: Ron Miller
Credits: Nasa/Shutterstock/Storyblocks/Elon Musk/SpaceX/ESA/ESO
Credits: Flickr

Video Chapters:
00:00 Introduction
00:24 Proxima Centauri
01:16 1/20 of the Earth's distance from the sun
01:55 Coronal mass ejections
03:19 Christophe Lovis
05:46 The breakthrough starshot
06:29 Starshot concept
07:29 New horizons
08:19 Parker Solar Probe
09:01 98 people
10:32 On the basis of character skills
11:19 Mark and Scott Kelly

#insanecuriosity #proximacentauri #alphacentauri

[InsaneCuriosity]

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[jwarmstrong]

An interstellar dream when we haven't setup a base on the moon, mars & other planets moons - plus we need to search the Kulper Belt & Oort Cloud for rock/comets that might squish us in the next few decades

[Ryan-psxc]

I know the Apollo astronauts had severe emotional and psychological issues upon returning to the earth. One became a recluse and others turned to alcohol and drugs. They found it to be psychologically damaging for a person to be so far away from earth. Even if the person knew he would be returning.

[Mrjackietreehorn]

Not only would the astronauts not be able to return to Earth but they would not even reach their destination except for the final generation that is lucky enough to be born during that time. We’re taking about 6300 years traveling 7 hundredths of 1 percent the speed of light. 6300 years of human evolution in an environment like a tiny interstellar spacecraft would inevitably change the crews looks and everything that makes us thrive here on Earth. They would probably be smaller and weaker but maybe live longer. Very interesting concept to think about.

[Purberus]

Definitely will have to be a ship built in space purely for deep space missions.

[jamesdennis]

Can you imagine a miscalculation error that once there, the last photo that reaches us is one of intelligent life forms right before this crashes into their planet and destroys almost everything there, but somehow this space craft still held onto earthling dna that spawns us all again. Then the origins would be about a prehistoric humanoid species existed once before but an astroid must have came out of nowhere and wiped out most of the species, while the other portion was greatly affected due to exposure of some subsequent ice age (or catastrophic change in the environment) that wiped out almost all of the rest of the species there. Then the dna that survived from earth, over the millions of years of evolution, started adapting and incorporating the local lifeforms building blocks to survive; leading to dna that is quite similar to the local species. Enough to believe that we all had the same origin, but, we are unable to find enough data to suggest the original link after some point in our history tree. That would be nuts haha.

[GadreelAdvocat]

Might be an idea to put a RTG laser satellite around Uranus to give solar sails a boost. If the craft is sent towards Uranus, due to Uranus rotation/tilt a satellite rotating around it could beam light continuously to the craft for as long as possible.

[Spooferish]

Question s,

1) How much time sail needs to reach to this speed?
2) What happens once sail reach out of solar system I mean less photons gonna reach sail means less acceleration.

3) what happens when it get close to Proxima solar system as compared to Sun as sail will receive more photons Proxima's Star on the opposite side then front

4) what happens if sale is created by Semiconductor single item so it generate electricity as well and use ionic thrusters to increase speed, will we able to increase its speed may be 99.999% and reach promixma B faster?

[lean.]

Imagine if there is an alien race there that says the same thing about our solar system and that earth could have life, and then detecting a probe from that direction in that system

[HammerRocks]

If you're about to watch this video because of the clickbait title, The Project Breakthrough Starshot, then don't bother. There are better videos in YouTube that covers this project in greater detail. I watched this video as I thought this was an update on the status of The Project Breakthrough Starshot. Instead, the topic doesn't starts until 5:40 and the Project Breakthrough Starshot piece is covered for only a little over a 2 mins (out of a nearly 13 min video). There are better videos out in YouTube that covers the Starshot project in more detail.

[phonyfelony]

hmm wonder how fast that thing would go to mars.

[ap]

To get a space probe up to the speed required to get it there in 20 years would be kind of useless. It would be going so fast there would be no at to slow it down or stop it at Proxima. If you did a flyby again the speed would be so great, how would you get any photos?

[jssomewhere]

The breakthrough star shot. Is something that doesn't look anything like sending people.
So it is true that we must limit weight when getting off Earth. Yet as it has been shown by the space station we can assemble in space. Once out of the gravitational hold of the earth many things become possible. There can be a combination of sails, gravity assist, and other types of propulsion. This means the ship would not need as small as you describe. Really the biggest problem is Shields. Protecting the ship becomes exponentially more difficult the faster you go. Assuming that shields can be built. 10% LS is possible. If shields will protect even faster could be reached. Some of the same could be used to slow the ship. Also the same could be used to power a return trip. Some of the pieces of the puzzle are not at present an off the shelf item but they are in a stage close enough to be realistic. The ship could have gravity from spin or acceleration and deceleration. So it seems it's still some way off yet not traveling in the manner described. Your way would be beyond terrible and one way. I am forced to believe if we were to plan a trip it would be a round trip. So speed and shields are a must.

[olivierdeplanques]

Good video. is it possible with quantum entranglement to communicate instantly with a space vessel in travel from earth to proxima?

[oldschooldiy]

Interstellar travel for mankind is logistically impossible without a "FTL" star drive of some sort! It just takes too much to keep a human alive that would be impossible to provide in interstellar space!

[anurag]

Any book recommendations for getting started?

[TJtheHuman]

What if a group of scientists and engineers made a subculture or even a tribe of people who always live and work on scientific outposts? Part of becoming an adult is meeting and maintaining the qualifications to live and work in a scientific outposts, especially raising a family there if you so choose. Maybe they would be the best for longterm space missions.

[kovacs]

if this project is carried out, most likely I will already be about 40 years old. now I'm 13, I dream of dying on another planet.

[DavyoInVegas]

Why don’t we make this easy, for interstellar travel just use one of the saucers that are stored at Area 51.
Although we probably are using them already.

[jr-plkj]

this is where warp drive or light speed drive like in star trek and star wars would be practical for maned space exploration, unmaned spacecraft would be the best solution for a no return mission. imo