If you thought NASA was playing the long game with its plan to put people on Mars in the 2030s, you haven't seen anything yet. New Scientist has learned that a team at the administration's Jet Propulsion Laboratory has started planning a mission that would send a spacecraft to the Alpha Centauri system in... 2069.
So why that long wait?
Because A ship traveling at a tenth the speed of light would take 44 years to arrive. And it's doubtful that you or even the next couple generations of your family would live to see the results.
The probe wouldn't reach the system until around 2113, and of course the data wouldn't get back to Earth until 4.4 years later at best.
Think of NASA's 2069 mission as a backup if Starshot doesn't work, or a follow-up that could study the star system in greater depth.
M. Kornmesser/AFP/Getty Images
Via: Outer Places
Source: New Scientist and MSN
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