The new idea of British physicist Stephen Hawking and Russian entrepreneur Yuri Milner became known last week. The Breakthrough Starshot project from the Breakthrough Initiatives series will cost Milner $ 100 million.
The ship, designed to fly to Alpha Centauri, is planned to be developed based on the idea of a group of physicists from California led by Philip Lubin, which they talked about last year. Scientists have proposed to use lightweight, flat structures made of reflective material and capable of accelerating almost to the speed of light using powerful laser radiation sent to them from near-Earth orbit, instead of traditional spaceships, to send them to distant planets.
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American physicists have calculated that the path of such a device to Alpha Centauri will take 20 years, and to Mars - only three days in the absence of load, a month - in the presence of a load of 10 tons. The main problem in both cases is the safe braking of the "interstellar sailing ship" - it is not yet clear how to successfully stop it at the right time.
According to the Czech astrophysicist Lubos Motl and his American colleague Jonathan McDowell, the Starshot project is scientifically feasible, however, in addition to the ill-conceived brake system, there are still a number of technical problems.
First, sending a probe to Alpha Centauri would require a laser so powerful that the sail could melt when exposed to such a beam.
Secondly, the laser must be positioned with unrealistically high accuracy.
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Thirdly, ships have never been accelerated to near-light speeds before. No one knows what this threatens the nanoship with, perhaps self-destruction while in motion or collision with any object in outer space. Even the smallest dust particles that encounter a probe flying at this speed are likely to tragically end its mission. The most vulnerable are the electronic components of the structure, which can fail when the spacecraft collides with cosmic rays or due to strong overloads.
Fourth, the great speed of the ship and the equally impressive distance between the Earth and Alpha Centauri will make it difficult to receive and transmit photographs.
Yet, despite these and other perceived obstacles, McDowell and Motl do not deny the possibility of the idea and its significance. Scientists talk about the need for a serious and comprehensive consideration of the project.