Now we're talking...
http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/in-focus-setting-sail-for-the-stars-with-100-year-project-372414/ (http://www.flightglobal.com/news/articles/in-focus-setting-sail-for-the-stars-with-100-year-project-372414/)
But I hope there's a civilisation to greet the capsule on its return...
Not to mention a civilisation to greet it when it gets there. ;D
Quote from: OldGit on June 15, 2012, 08:13:11 PM
Not to mention a civilisation to greet it when it gets there. ;D
Well, the idea is to dedicate the mission to colonisation in the first instance without first sending a fact-finding mission. Long way to go to find there's no room at the inn... ;D
This is an interesting idea. I am having a problem with the article. The article says that Robert l. Forward proposed the laser assisted light sail in 1984. This seems to be referring to his novel The Flight of the Dragonfly. However, the same system is used in Larry Niven's and Jerry Pournelle's The Mote in God's Eye and while it was not laser assisted Arthur C. Clarke's short story Sunjammer used a light sail to send a space ship interstellar. So unless Forward submitted a formal proposal for a mission of this type credit for the idea would seem to lie elsewhere.