How long will it take to reach Proxima centauri, which is 4 light years away from the Earth, with the existing technology of human beings?

Proxima centauri is the nearest star to the sun. However, it is impossible to fly to proxima centauri, the neighbor of the sun, to be a guest with the existing technology of mankind. Why do you say that?

Proxima Centauri

The distance from proxima centauri to the sun is 4.22 light years. How far is 4.22 light years? 1 light year is the distance that light travels in the universe for one year. The propagation speed of light in vacuum is 300,000 km/s, so the distance of 1 light-year is about 9460730472580.8 km, which is about 94607 billion km. 4.22 light years is about 40 trillion kilometers. In contrast, the equator of the earth is only 40 thousand kilometers a week, a difference of 65.438+0 billion times!

At present, the farthest space probe from the earth is Voyager 1. Voyager 1 The current speed has reached 17.043 kilometers per second, and the speed is 6 1354 kilometers per hour. This speed has surpassed that of third cosmic velocity, which can make the traveler 1 get rid of the gravitational bondage of the sun and rush out of the solar system. So far, Voyager 1 has flown in space for 4 1 year, with a distance of 2 1 1 100 million kilometers. But it hasn't flown out of the solar system yet.

Voyager 1

How long does it take to fly to proxima centauri at the current speed of Voyager 1? The answer is 73600! With proxima centauri as the goal, Voyager 1' s journey has just begun. After all, Voyager 1 was a space probe more than 40 years ago, and its flight speed was not the fastest. At present, the Jupiter probe Juno, which has been launched into space, is the fastest space probe ever built by human beings. Its speed has reached 264000 kilometers per hour. It takes 17 100 years to fly to proxima centauri at the speed of Juneau.

Juno

With current technology, tens of thousands of years of flight time makes it almost impossible for human beings to fly to proxima centauri. To truly realize interstellar travel in the future, there are two problems that must be solved. The first point is to speed up and increase the speed to near the speed of light; The second point is to solve the problem of human life metabolism, and don't spend all human short lives on long interstellar flights.

What do you think of this problem?

Outside the sun, the nearest star is proxima centauri, about 4.22 light years away. Near this star, a planet called neighboring star B was observed. This planet is about the size of the earth and may be suitable for human habitation. In the future, if humans want to get out of the solar system, proxima b may become our first stop.

So how long does it take to get to this planet? This is almost unimaginable if we use the existing technology of human beings. 4.22 light years is not a big number, but because it is light years, it has become an impossible distance for human beings now.

At present, the fastest human aircraft is1Apollo 2 launched by Americans in 976. The fastest speed of this spaceship has reached about 250,000 kilometers per hour, which is quite amazing. So how long will it take us to go to the neighboring galaxy at this speed?

Proxima centauri is 4.22 light years away, and one light year is 9.46 trillion kilometers, so the distance between adjacent galaxies is 40 trillion kilometers, which takes about 18260 years. However, our human life span is only one hundred years now, and the whole history of human civilization is less than eight thousand years. It is unthinkable to sail in the universe for such a long time.

Therefore, it is definitely impossible for human beings to reach the nearest solar system outside the solar system with the existing technology. We must also use faster space technology. More realistically, the future vasimr technology can theoretically reach half the speed of light. If our artificial spacecraft can travel to proxima centauri at the speed of 20% in the future, it will only take more than 20 years to reach proxima centauri. If you count the acceleration and deceleration time, it may take more than 30 years, but such a time span is still acceptable to human beings, so if you want to visit neighboring galaxies, you should still expect faster progress in human space technology.

Proxima centauri Centauri is the third star of Alpha Trinity Centauri and the closest star to the solar system, with a specific distance of about 4.22 light years.

Proxima centauri is a red dwarf and the sun is a yellow dwarf. Proxima centauri is not as big and bright as the sun. The diameter of the sun is about1392,000 km, while that of proxima centauri is about 200,000 km. The diameter of the sun is about 7 times that of proxima centauri, and its brightness is much higher than that of proxima centauri.

If you have seen the movie The Wandering Earth, you will be deeply impressed by the star that human beings will finally reach after 2500 years. In fact, that star is the famous "proxima centauri".

Proxima centauri is actually in a very special Trinary star system. If you have read the novel Three-body, then you should also know that this Trinary star system is the hometown of the legendary Three-body Man.

In addition, "proxima centauri" is often mentioned in many sci-fi works. The reason why "proxima centauri" appears so high is mainly because it is the nearest star in the solar system and probably the first place for human exploration in the future. In addition, through some analysis by scientists, it is considered that there is a possibility of life on a planet in proxima centauri's Centauri system, and this planet is "Proximity B". All kinds of phenomena make people yearn for this star and become an important goal of Ad Astra in the future.

Although mankind's yearning for "proxima centauri" has always been there, it is actually impossible to achieve it with the present technology.

First, let's see how far it is 4.22 light years away. The distance of light in a year is 9460730472580800 meters, which is about 9.5 trillion kilometers, while 4.22 light years is about 40 trillion kilometers. This is a distance that sounds awesome. You know, the distance from the earth to the moon is 384,000 kilometers, which is about 654.38 billion times that from the earth to distance to the moon.

At present, among the detectors launched by human beings, Voyager 1 has the longest flight distance. Since the launch of 1977, it has been flying for 44 years, and now it is about 24 billion kilometers away from the earth. At this speed, it will take travelers 1 more than 73,000 years to reach "proxima centauri". We don't know whether a probe like Voyager 1 can really last so long. After all, in a few years, human beings may lose contact with Voyager 1 completely.

In a short period of time, human beings can't speed up to the "0.5% speed of light" mentioned in The Wandering Earth, so even in 2500 years, human beings can't reach the "proxima centauri". More than 70,000 years is really too long for human beings.

With the current level of human science and technology, the exploration of the universe outside the solar system is still a very distant thing.

But sometimes the development of science and technology is likely to have an "explosive" growth, just as the scientific and technological achievements of mankind in the past 200 years have been far ahead of the development of the previous thousands of years.

So, one day in the future, maybe there will be such an "exponential" growth in human science and technology. At that time, the problems we are facing now may no longer be big problems.

The above personal views are for reference only.

Proxima centauri, as its name implies, is a neighbor of our solar system. It is the nearest red dwarf star to the solar system.

Star A Centauri is a triple galaxy, named Nanmener in China, located in the south of the sky, with an average distance of 4.3 light years. Proxima centauri is a small star in Centauri, 4.22 light years away.

The naked eye only has a three-star system, which is very bright together. Its comprehensive apparent magnitude is -0.27 and so on. Among more than 6,000 stars visible to the naked eye in the sky, it ranks third in brightness, so it is easy to see.

The official name of proxima centauri is Centauri A Star C, or Nanmen 2 Star C. Its mass is only one eighth of that of the sun, its surface temperature is about 3000 degrees, and its apparent magnitude is only 1 1.05, so although it is close to us, it is still invisible to human eyes.

The darkest star that human eyes can see is apparent magnitude 6. The smaller the apparent magnitude, the brighter it is. There are negative numbers, and the more negative numbers, the brighter it is.

The other two stars in the south gate are bigger. South gate A is slightly bigger than the sun, and B is slightly smaller than the sun. What we see with the naked eye is mainly South Gate A star.

Scientists have calculated that at least one planet in this ternary star system revolves around South Gate 2b, but according to human standards, it is uninhabitable because it is too close to the main star and is being scorched by high temperature.

On the astronomical scale, this distance seems to be in your backyard. Although it is very close, it is still out of reach at the current level of human science and technology.

In fact, people are still a baby, still learning to crawl, and can't stand up and walk, so they can't even get out of their own doors.

The probe "Voyager 1", the farthest human flight, has a speed of17km per second. It took more than 40 years to fly 21500 million kilometers. It takes 17000 years to fly out of the gravitational range of our solar system, and 74400 years to fly to proxima centauri, 40 trillion kilometers away.

Not long ago, NASA launched a solar probe named "Parker", which is the first human probe to detect stars. When the probe reaches the sun, it will accelerate itself to a speed of 200 kilometers per second with the help of the sun's gravity, which may be the fastest aircraft of mankind so far. At this rate, it will take 6330 years for humans to fly to proxima centauri.

Although this time has been reduced a lot, it is still too far away for human beings with only a few thousand years of historical records. Moreover, this is only an unmanned detector. The real footprint of human beings has only reached the moon 380,000 kilometers away. This distance is only one hundredth of that of proxima centauri.

Mankind is trying to improve the speed of interstellar travel, and always wants to visit the nearest neighbor, proxima centauri.

When Hawking, a great scientist, was alive, in 20 16, he launched a "breakthrough shooting stars" plan, which was to unite some rich people in the world, concentrate some top scientific and technological forces, build a micro detector and fly to proxima centauri with sails.

There are at least two breakthroughs in this scheme, one is speed and the other is small.

The main content of this plan is to send high-energy laser through a huge laser array to drive the sail to one-fifth of the speed of light, so that it only takes 20 years to reach proxima centauri. This is a very attractive plan. Imagine the speed of 60,000 kilometers per second, which will be extremely exciting.

The giant sail is only equipped with a small detector, the volume is only 1 cm2, and the total amount is only about 1 gram. Such a small detector needs to focus on many scientific and technological functions such as camera shooting, communication, positioning, detection and bearing speed. It's hard to imagine how far this technology will go.

There are still many difficulties in this plan. First, it is difficult for such a small detector to have the most sophisticated and superior functions. Secondly, the huge sail must be very, very light and very strong, and can withstand huge acceleration and gravitational pull; Thirdly, how does the huge laser array send out light sails to reach speed? And accurate positioning, a thousand miles away. If you are not careful, this detector will disappear into the vast space.

And even in proxima centauri, 60,000 kilometers per second flies so fast. Can you press the shutter in time and send the information back to the human eye accurately in 4.22 years? These are great challenges.

But even if this project is successful, it does not mean that human beings have left home. It's just that human beings hit a small bean outside the door with a toy gun in the baby cradle.

At present, manned space flight is still at the bedside, and it is still planned to go out to the "gate" of Mars. It is still a long process to get out of the "house", out of the solar system and go to proxima centauri in the backyard.

Space-time communication believes that this process should at least wait until human beings realize the first-class parent star civilization in the universe. At present, the level of human civilization is only 0.73, and it will take about 200 years to reach the level of first-class civilization, and the required energy needs to be increased by thousands of times on the basis of the current total.

By that time, mankind has established a primary base on Mars, and already has certain experience and technology in interstellar navigation, and the speed may also be broken. At this time, they may begin to try to move to interstellar space.

However, if we really want to carry out interstellar manned navigation, I am afraid we will have to wait until human beings develop into second-class interstellar civilization. This process will take about 5000 years, and the total energy required will increase by 654.38+000 billion times on the current basis.

Although the prospect is attractive, there is a premise that human beings should not be destroyed by natural and man-made disasters during this period.

Comments and discussions are welcome on the views of space-time communication.

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At present, the nearest star to our Earth is proxima centauri, which is about 4.23 light years away, which means that it will take more than four years if it moves at a speed close to the speed of light. However, we know that the current speed of human aircraft is only tens of kilometers per second, not exceeding 100 kilometers per second. Usually, this speed is not directly accelerated, but can be obtained by several different acceleration mechanisms, such as gravitational slingshot effect. This is almost the highest speed that human technology can achieve at present. At this rate, it will take us at least tens of thousands of years to send the probe around proxima centauri.

So some people plan to fly near the speed of light. This is a star shooting project jointly initiated by Hawking and Russian businessman Milner during his lifetime. The plan is to use the powerful laser on the earth to accelerate the nano detector weighing only a few grams to 0.2 times the speed of light in a very short time, so that it can reach proxima centauri in about 20 years, but the photos will be sent back at the speed of light. However, it is difficult to realize this technology at present because the energy required for accelerating laser is too large. I hope this technology can be realized in about twenty or thirty years. Maybe we can really get high-definition photos of proxima centauri by then.

At present, only five human-made spacecraft can fly out of the solar system at an escape speed beyond the solar system. They are 1 Pioneer launched in 1972 10,1Pioneer launched in 19731,1Voyager 2 launched in 1977. The farthest and fastest is Voyager 1, which is now 21400 million kilometers away from the sun (equivalent to 143 times the distance between the sun and the earth), and its speed relative to the sun is 17 kilometers per second.

Proxima centauri is about 4.244 light years away from the sun, which is 40. 15 trillion kilometers. If you fly to proxima centauri at the current speed of Voyager 1, it will take 74,800 years, which is extremely long. You know, this is still the closest star to the sun. If it is other stars farther away, it will take much longer. As far as the current level of human spaceflight is concerned, it is still too early to talk about interstellar travel. We need to work hard to improve the speed of the spacecraft.

Concept map of proxima centauri and its neighboring star B

Last year, scientists at NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory put forward a grand plan. They intend to study ultra-high-speed interstellar spacecraft so that the speed of the spacecraft can be accelerated to 10% of the speed of light. If you fly to proxima centauri at this speed, the required time will be greatly shortened to 42 years (regardless of acceleration and deceleration time). The spacecraft will be launched in 2069, and then arrive at the Alpha Trina Centauri Solar System in proxima centauri at the beginning of the next century.

It takes 70,000 years for humans to reach proxima centauri, 70,000 years for NASA spacecraft and 47 years for the Monkey King to do somersaults.

Even though proxima centauri is 4.22 light years away from us, it seems very close in the vast universe. In fact, with the current technology of mankind, NASA spacecraft will take 70 thousand years!

The dream of mankind is interstellar travel and finding a second home. There is no end to human desire and curiosity, and the solar system can no longer satisfy everyone's views. So we can take a long-term view, expand the application again, and look at our nearest neighbor outside the solar system-proxima centauri.

It is 39 trillion kilometers from the earth to proxima centauri, and what we see is only a small light spot in that distant interstellar space. Let's make an analogy to see how far it is. If NASA's navigator 1 spaceship goes to its destination at the highest speed of 6 1000 kilometers per hour, it will take 70,000 years to reach proxima centauri.

People's life span is only a few decades, so if we want to live beyond the life span of the earth, we should try to build a spaceship that can control the speed of light like Polynesians.

Some people calculated the time needed to go to proxima centauri from the perspective of the Monkey King, the Great Sage of the Monkey, but the calculated result was also very frustrating. Proxima centauri is 4.22 light years away, and a light year is about 9.46 trillion kilometers. Calculate, proxima centauri is 39.9438+02 trillion kilometers away from us, which is a world of difference.

As we all know, a somersault in Monkey King is 108000 Li, which is equivalent to 54000 kilometers, so it takes 740 million somersaults to reach proxima centauri. If it takes 2 seconds for the Monkey King to do a somersault, it will take 46.9 years for the Monkey King to finish the task without eating, drinking or sleeping. It is estimated that the monkey king fainted without turning his head many times.

But perhaps with the continuous development of science and technology, it is impossible to become possible. If humans can invent the speed of light or light-like spacecraft, if humans can create wormholes in space to travel in time and space, then the distance of 4.22 light years is also a matter of pediatrics, and visiting proxima centauri will not be a dream.

Proxima centauri, 4.22 light years away from us, is the home of the invaders in Three-body, while proxima centauri in reality is the nearest star, and it also has a neighboring planet B in the livable zone.

No matter what the environment in proxima centauri is, it will be the first extrasolar star that human beings will reach sooner or later, but it is very unrealistic to go to proxima centauri at the current level of space technology. The gravitational slingshot effect of chemical-powered spacecraft and giant planets can only be accelerated to a certain extent, that is, the sailing time of 654.38+million years is shortened to 8000 years at most.

For us now, there is no difference between 1 light-year and 10000 light-year, and there is no difference between 10000 and10000. It is impossible for human beings to maintain their vitality for such a long time, and it is meaningful to reach the place in their lifetime. In addition, unmanned detectors or artificial intelligence robots can only be launched elsewhere.

Compared with the space technology decades ago, modern space technology has only made some progress in control, but the most basic and important way of propulsion remains unchanged. Now, if we want to fly further, we can only enlarge the already heavy chemical-powered rocket, but the chemical-powered rocket can't help mankind conquer space, it is only the embodiment of the primary space technology level.

At present, it takes nearly a week for space technology to go to the moon and half a year to go to Mars, which is almost the limit of human beings. Further on, it will be difficult to supply and the communication delay will be longer. Therefore, improving the speed of spacecraft is the basis of space expansion.

Now our goal is to develop near-earth orbit and the moon and immigrate to Mars on a small scale. This process may last for centuries, and then humans will slowly conquer the solar system. This process may take centuries, and it may take nearly a thousand years to get to proxima centauri.

To tell the truth, it will take tens of thousands of years to fly to proxima centauri, four light-years away, with the current technology of human beings and on the premise of high-speed advancement.

Long, long ago, the ancients looked up at the stars and dreamed that one day they could travel around the universe. Now man can fly to the moon, and his next goal is to fly all over the universe. As early as decades ago, the United States had sent astronauts to the moon. But until today, no other country has done this. This is a small step for human beings to explore the universe, but it is also a big step with important historical significance.

Decades have passed, and humans have never landed on other planets except the moon. Man's next goal is to land on Mars. American exploration of Mars began decades ago. The United States launched the first Mars probe in 1977, and in the following decades, the United States launched Mars probes many times. China will also launch its first Mars exploration around 2020. Human footprints, vowed to travel around the universe.

1977, the Voyager 1 probe was launched. After more than 40 years of flight, Voyager 1 has now flown out of the solar system. At present, it is about 2 10/000 million kilometers away from the earth, about 17 hours away from the sun, and the flight speed is about 17 kilometers per second. This speed certainly looks great, but compared with the speed of light, the gap is like a snail and a rocket. Even if we fly at this speed, it will take tens of thousands of years to fly to proxima centauri four light years away. By that time, it's hard to say whether humans are still on the earth.

Of course, the speed of Voyager 1 is not the fastest among all detectors made by human beings. The fastest probe can't remember whether it's a solar probe launched by the United States or a Jupiter probe. The fastest speed is over 70 kilometers per second. But even if it is as fast as lightning, it will take thousands of years to fly that far.

The life span of human beings is one hundred years. I'm afraid human beings have died of old age on the road before flying to proxima centauri. Therefore, with the current technology of mankind, we can't go to proxima centauri. To fly out, speed is the key. The speed of light is about 300,000 kilometers per second. If the speed is 1% of the speed of light, it is also 3000 kilometers per second. The fastest flying aircraft made by man is less than one thousandth of the speed of light.

Even flying at the speed of 1%, it still takes more than 400 years to fly to proxima centauri, and it takes more than 80 years to fly at the speed of 5%. More than 80 years is a long time, so few people can spend 80 years on a spaceship. But if the speed can reach 10% of the speed of light, it is feasible, and it will take more than 40 years to reach proxima centauri. It's just when will humans build an aircraft that can fly so fast?

How long will it take to reach Proxima centauri, which is 4 light years away from the Earth, with the existing technology of human beings?

To be precise, proxima centauri is about 4.22 light years away from the Earth. Needless to say, for the 93 billion light-years universe, even if the diameter of the Milky Way is still a negligible number, the highest speed that poor humans can achieve is extremely limited!

Flying to the solar system: Apollo: 70.2 km/s Parker probe: 230 km/s

Flying out of the solar system: Voyager 1: about 17. 16KM/S New horizon number: 21.2 km/s/s.

Why the flight speed into the solar system is so high is entirely due to the gravitational acceleration of the inner planet and the acceleration effect of the sun's gravity! Then we can't calculate the cheating result, and we can only calculate how long it will take to get to proxima centauri according to the speed of new horizons!

How many kilometers is a light year? This can be quoted directly. If you are interested, you can calculate: 946073047258 1 km.

Then t = 9460730472581KM * 4.22/21.2km/s = 59716.5423.

It's almost 60 thousand years!

Judging from the recorded history of mankind, it is about 5,000 years, while the history of China is only recorded, and it is barely 5,000 years! In other words, even if we set out 5000 years ago, it is 55000 years now. .......

If we achieve warp drive, let's see how long it will take:

Suppose we fly at a warp speed of 9.9999, how long will it take to get to proxima centauri?

T = 4.22/199516 * 365 * 24 * 60 =11.12 minutes.

If we reach the warp speed of 9.9999, it only takes 1 1 minute to get there!

Exciting. No ..... Ha ha laugh.

Is this it?