Washington : To look for signs of life beyond our solar system, the US space agency could send a spacecraft to the nearby Alpha Centauri system by 2069, according to a mission concept presented by a NASA scientist.
Details of the mission concept was presented by Anthony Freeman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the 2017 American Geophysical Union conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, the New Scientist reported on Tuesday.
Although most of the technology NASA needs for such a mission does not exist yet, it could involve travelling at one-tenth the speed of light.
The impetus came from a 2016 US funding bill telling NASA to study interstellar travel that could reach at least 10 per cent of the speed of light by 2069, the report said.
The Alpha Centauri star system, located in the constellation of Centaurus at a distance of 4.3 light-years from Earth, is the closest star system to the Earth. It has three stars -- Centauri A, Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri.
The European Southern Observatory (ESO) discovered in 2016 an Earth-sized planet that orbits in the habitable zone around Proxima Centauri.
New research, published in the Astronomical Journal, suggests that there may some small, Earth-like planets around Alpha Centauri A and B as well.
Right now, only one human-made spacecraft has left our solar system?Voyager 1, which launched 40 years ago and is currently traveling at about 38,000 miles per hour, less than one per cent of one per cent of the speed of light, the Newsweek reported.
Details of the mission concept was presented by Anthony Freeman of NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory at the 2017 American Geophysical Union conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, the New Scientist reported on Tuesday.
Although most of the technology NASA needs for such a mission does not exist yet, it could involve travelling at one-tenth the speed of light.
The Alpha Centauri star system, located in the constellation of Centaurus at a distance of 4.3 light-years from Earth, is the closest star system to the Earth. It has three stars -- Centauri A, Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri.
Advertisement
New research, published in the Astronomical Journal, suggests that there may some small, Earth-like planets around Alpha Centauri A and B as well.
Advertisement
COMMENTS
Advertisement
Did A Massive Dam In China Alter Earth's Rotation? The Truth Behind Viral Claim 220-Foot NF 2024 Asteroid Racing Towards Earth, NASA Alerts NASA Transmits Missy Elliott's Hip-Hop Song To Venus At Speed Of Light Over 300 Indian Students Return Home As 64 Bangladeshis Killed In Protests In 1st Statement After Outage, CrowdStrike CEO Says... Windows Computers Lead To 'Blue Screen Of Death' Due To CrowdStrike Error Delhi Hospital Shooting Case: Cops Arrest 21-Year-Old Man, Recover Pistol "Probe China Link To Political Voices That Targeted Adani Group": Mahesh Jethmalani Man Shot, Burnt To Death In Gurugram, Accused On The Run: Cops Track Latest News Live on NDTV.com and get news updates from India and around the world.