A Modest Proposal To Send Spacecraft To Starchip

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Stephen Hawking and a Russian billionaire plan to send spacecraft to Alpha Centauri in 20 years Today the prototype for 'Starchip' was revealed today. This minature spacecraft is the brainchild of the cosmologist, and author Stephen Hawking. He has partnered with Russian billionaire and, philanthropist Yuri Milner. Recently, they have added Facebook's founder Mark Zuckerberg to the team. Additionally, Pete Worden, the former director of NASA's AMES research Center, will lead the team who will create Starchip. The team theorizes that by using ground based supercharged lasers, they will be able to accumulate the power they need to accelerate Starchip. It must reach similar speeds required to launch a full size space shuttle. They want to attach Starchip to 'Lightsail', which will only weigh a couple of grams, and only be a meter thick. The Lightsail will be generally propelled by light, and supercharged by lasers directed at Starchip to boost its speed. …show more content…

Starchip will be around the size of a postage stamp, and smaller than a smartphone It will weigh around a gram. On board will be tiny cameras, photon thrusters, power supply, navigation, and communication equipment. The project is estimated to cost around $100 million. The purpose is to prove a proposed concept for interstellar travel. To increase the traveling speed of Starchip, Hawking, and Milner will use a tiny satellite with a large laser powered sail to increase thrust. What is Alpha Centauri? Alpha Centauri (α Cen) is our solar system closest star neighbor. There are three stars in the system: Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B, and Alpha Centauri C or Proxima Centauri. To the unaided eye, Alpha Centauri A, Alpha Centauri B look like one of the brightest stars in the night sky to help form the constellation Centaurus. This star system resides at 4.37 ly (1.34 pc) away from us. But

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