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Fast and Tiny Probes for Interstellar Travel - IEEE Spectrum

spectrum.ieee.org · 545 words · saved by 1 readers

A new approach to interstellar travel could bring us close-up images of exoplanets in just 25 years.

The triple-star system Alpha Centauri is 4.2 light-years away, with Proxima Centauri closest to us. Proxima is believed to have several exoplanets, including the roughly Earth-size Proxima b lying within the habitable zone. The probes will form a disk-shaped swarm sweeping past the planet. To the naked eye, the stars are diamond flecks scattered across the inner surface of a celestial sphere. Telescopes have brought depth to our vision, mapping the true distances to cosmic objects. But the universe they reveal appears utterly beyond the human scale of space and time. Even the closest stars…

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