Basically, the idea is to launch the probe at nearly the speed of light from a particle accelerator. That gets us to Alpha Centauri in less
than 5 years, and the data back in less than 10.
I see big engineering challenges, but no theoretical obstacles.
1. The probe must be small enough and the accelerator big enough that
they're compatible.
2. The probe must be launched in a vacuum, meaning the accelerator must
be built in space.
3. The small probe must be able to transmit to earth from trillions of
miles away.
4. The probe must be able to resist the magnetic & electrical fields in
the accelerator.
One thing that helps is that 90% of the speed of light would suffice.
Thus, no Tevatron required.
Re: Distant planet judged possibly habitable ... Such a wire-shaped robot could fit into an accelerator tube of similar diameter, but thousands of km long, orbiting around the Sun somewhere in the inner system where energy is plentiful. ... Said accelerator, at the right moment, accelerates our probe to a substantial fraction of c, maybe .5 or so. ... It flies by the target planet, and transmits its data back towards Sol, where the newly built Ridiculously Large Array in Jupiter's orbit can pick up its feeble signals easily. ... A very powerful scope could give us a some information on exo planets. ... (sci.space.policy)
Re: Distant planet judged possibly habitable ... imagine a probe that, based on microtechnology (don't even need to ... Such a wire-shaped robot could fit into an accelerator tube of similar ... It flies by the target planet (I'm not even going to propose that it ... It then flies on out of the target system, of course, never to be seen ... (sci.space.policy)
Re: God speed, New Horizons! ... >> Watched the launch via the Internet today at work, ...Mariner 10, to Mercury, one probe.... Pioneer 12, to Venus orbit, one probe. ... (sci.space.history)
Re: The MARGINAL Cost of Two More Cassini Craft (Re: Pluto Flyby) ... >> Pluto Flyby... > I presume the relevent Pluto launch window comes around ... You could replace the Titan-entry probe with a Gallileo ... > Jupiter-style entry probe for the primaries. ... (sci.physics)
Re: The MARGINAL Cost of Two More Cassini Craft (Re: Pluto Flyby) ... >> Pluto Flyby... > I presume the relevent Pluto launch window comes around ... You could replace the Titan-entry probe with a Gallileo ... > Jupiter-style entry probe for the primaries. ... (sci.astro)
