Beyond the Stars: A Bold Blueprint for Human Travel to Our Closest Cosmic Neighbors

• Transiting from one star to another remains currently unattainable within a human lifespan. However, various initiatives are formulating methods to propel payloads to the closest star system (Alpha Centauri) via electron beams.
• A recent suggestion utilizes an electron beam emitted from a stable platform positioned close to the Sun, which could drive a 1,000 kg spacecraft for up to 100 AU (100 times the distance from the Sun to Earth).
• Despite containing yet-to-be-revealed materials and theories, this concept could in theory deliver a probe to Alpha Centauri in merely 40 years.

Science fiction series like Star Trek frequently showcase an array of technological aspirations. Food replicators, holodecks, and transporters? Absolutely all of the above, please. However, the item that tops this wishlist is an engine that can drastically reduce travel durations between stars from millions of years to mere minutes. For the USS Enterprise, this translates to a warp engine, yet scientists on 21^st century Earth are brainstorming how to reach the nearest star system—Alpha Centauri—with technology that feels slightly more attainable.

The most notable of these endeavors (pun intended) is a project known as Breakthrough Starshot, which intends to utilize lasers to drive a solar sail transporting an ultralight payload (approximately a few grams) for 0.1 astronomical units (AU) of its expansive 277,000 AU expedition. The ambition is to attain velocities of 100 million miles per hour—approximately 20 percent the speed of light. This implies that the small probe could reach Earth’s nearest star, situated around 4.25 light-years away, in merely 20 years.

Nonetheless, a recent study—co-authored by the chairpersons of the organization Tau Zero Foundation, a non-profit aimed at promoting interstellar travel—lays out a second approach that boasts a significant advantage over its smaller counterpart: it can transport a payload of up to 1,000 kilograms. That exceeds NASA’s Voyager probes, which are the only two satellites to have ever successfully exited the Solar System. Featured in a new publication found in the journal Acta Astronautica, this spacecraft relies on a relativistic electron beam launched from a solar statite (static satellite) situated perilously close to the surface of the Sun.

The authors contend that this electron beam—which employs a method known as relativistic pinch—achieves relativistic speeds that prevent the negatively-charged electrons from repelling each other—could propel the spacecraft well beyond Starshot’s 0.1 AU limit. At 19 gigaelectron volts, the lightsail could be driven for 100 AU, which is almost at the periphery of the Solar System. The authors suggest that the craft could potentially be propelled up to an astonishing 1,000 AU.

This, undoubtedly, offers significant benefits. As Breakthrough Starshot’s payload is so diminutive, reaching Proxima Centauri—the closest star to us in the Alpha Centauri triple-star system—would barely be more than an engineering feat. However, with a 1,000 kg satellite, NASA (or whichever space organization undertakes this ambitious venture) could conduct remarkable scientific research (even though it would still require over four years to return data to Earth).

So…what’s the catch? It’s great that you inquired. For starters, a solar-based statite is theoretical at best. As noted by Universe Today, it would also be required to be as proximal to the Sun as the closest approach attained by the Parker Solar Probe this past December—approximately 3.8 million miles from the solar surface. As the probe was moving at 430,000 miles per hour, it didn’t linger long enough to endure the Sun’s full, metal-melting ferocity. A prospective solar statite would need to be constructed of exceptionally sturdy material to survive just sitting in that intense heat.

Nevertheless, if aeronautical engineers can surmount these obstacles, humanity could dispatch probes toward the nearest star system with a travel duration of merely 40 years—seven years shorter than Voyager’s current mission. It’s not precisely the 37-hour journey that the USS Enterprise can execute at warp eight, but it’s a start.

Darren resides in Portland, possesses a cat, and writes/edits about science fiction and the intricacies of our world. You can find his previous work at Gizmodo and Paste if you search thoroughly enough.