Scientists from Germany and the UK have proposed using a system of magnetic and electric sails to brake stations traveling in interstellar space. The authors published a preprint dedicated to the research on the arXiv.org website.
A space station that is able to travel to other stars and transmit received data to Earth must have a speed comparable to light. Most likely, the first interstellar travel will be flyby, since the high speed of the device will not allow it to enter the orbit of a star or exoplanet.
Meanwhile, for more efficient data collection of the interplanetary station, most likely, it is necessary to reduce its speed. In their work, scientists propose to do this using a magnetic sail. It allows the use of a static magnetic field to deflect charged particles (which are particles of the stellar wind) and is especially effective for braking at high station speeds.
According to scientists, the use of a system of magnetic and electric sails will allow the most efficient interstellar flights. For example, it will take 29 years to accelerate to a speed of 15 thousand kilometers per second (which is five percent of the speed of light) of an apparatus with a mass of 8250 kilograms. If a system is used only from an electric sail, it will take 35 years, only a magnetic sail - 40 years.
Recently, Russian businessman Yuri Milner and British theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking announced the start of work on the creation and delivery of a satellite to α Centauri. The initiative, dubbed Breakthrough Starshot, could be the first mission of a man-made apparatus to another star.