InvestorYuriMilnerholdsaStarchip,amicroelectroniccomponentspacecraft,duringanannouncementoftheBreakthroughStarshotinitiativewithphysicistStephenHawkinginNewYork,April12,2016.
Itisoneoftheoldestquestionseverasked:ArewealoneoristhereotherlifeoutintheUniverse?
Lastweek,aninternationalteamofscientistsandbusinessmenlaunchedaprojecttheyhopecananswerthatquestion.Theyannouncedplansforahugespaceexplorationprogram.Itsgoalistofindalienlifeinspace.
TheteamincludesBritishphysicistStephenHawking,Russian-bornbillionaireYuriMilnerandAmericanMarkZuckerberg,whofoundedFacbook.
TheirprojectiscalledBreakthroughSpaceshot.Itwilldevelopandbuildthousandsofroboticvehiclesthatcanspeedthroughspace.
Theirfirstgoalistoexploretheneareststarsystem,AlphaCentauri.Itisabout40trillionkilometers—or4.37lightyears–awayfromEarth.Oncelaunchedaspacecraftwouldhavetotravel20yearstogetthere.
Thewaytheywillmakeithappenislikesomethingfromasciencefictionstory.CrewsonEarthwouldusepowerfullaserbeamstopowerextremelysmallvehiclesthroughspace.Thesespacecraftwouldtravelmuchfartherthananyotherspacecraftbuilttodate.
Estimatessaytheprojectwillcostfrom$5-to10-billion.
YuriMilnerisgivingtheproject$100milliontogetstarted.
Lastweek,MilnershowedamodelofthespacecrafttoreportersinNewYork.
“Thisisastarchip,agram-scalewafercontainingcameras,photonthrusters,powersupplyandnavigationandcommunicationequipment.”
Thestarchipisacomputerchipaboutthesizeofalargepostagestamp.EachonewillcostnomorethananiPhone.Thechipwillhavealightsail—verythinmaterialthatcanopeninspaceandmovethespacecraftforward.Togetherthechipandthesailarecalled“nanocraft.”
Theteamplanstolauncha“mothership,”whichthenwouldbeputinEarth’sorbit.Themothershipwouldreleasethousandsofthenanocraft.
TheirlightsailswouldopenandcrewsonEarthwouldfirelaserbeamsonthelightsails.Thatwouldpushthenanocraft.Theywilltravelatabout20percentoflightspeed.
Today’sfastestspacecraftwouldtakeabout30,000yearstoreachtheAlphaCentaurisystem.Butoncethisnewnanocrafttechnologyisready,supporterssay,itcanshortenthattime--tojust20years.
StephenHawkingsaidthedistancebetweenAlphaCentauriandEarthcanbecrossedwithinageneration.TheBritishscientistspeaksthroughacomputerizedvoice:
“Ibelievewhatmakesusuniqueistranscendingourlimits.Gravitypinsustotheground,butIjustflewtoAmerica.”
Hawkingadded,“Todaywecommittothenextgreatleapinthecosmos,becausewearehumanandournatureistofly.”
Otherscientistshavesignedonfortheproject.FreemanDysoniswiththePrincetonInstituteforAdvancedStudy.HethinksscientistsmightfindsomethinginterestingbeforethenanocraftreachAlphaCentauri.
"ThespacebetweenhereandAlphaCentauriisnotempty,thatit'snotjustahugevoidwhichyouhavetocrossinordertoreachsomethinginterestingontheotherside.Onthecontrary,therearethousandsofobjectsinbetween.”
Dysonbelievesthatlifeismorelikelytobefoundonanasteroid,orspacerock,ratherthanaplanet.
Theprojectisjustnowtakingshape.Thefirststepisabout20yearsforresearchanddevelopment.Therearestillmanydetailstoworkoutabouthowthisprojectwillwork,technically.
Nextwouldcomethelaunchofthemothership,andthereleaseofthenanocrafts.Thatwouldbeanother20yearstogettoAlphaCentauri.
Then,peopleonEarthwillhavetobepatient.ItwilltakeatleastfourmoreyearsforanyoftheinformationcollectedtoreachEarth.
AviLoebteachesastronomyatHarvardUniversity.Heexplainedthegroupwantstointerestyoungpeopleintheproject.
Hesaid,“ourgoalistogetpeopleallovertheworldinvolved,especiallyyoungpeoplethatwillbearoundwhenwegetthere.”
Futureimprovementsintechnologycouldchangethetimelineandhelpspeeduptheproject.Butfornow,apersonbornthisyearmaybeinhisorher50swhenthosenanocraftreachtheirtarget.
alien–n.acreaturefromsomewhereotherthanEarth
ambitious–adj.somethingthatwilltakealotoftimeandeffortandisdifficulttoachieve
gram-scalewafer–n.asmallobjectthatweighsaboutagram
photonthrusters–n.adevicethathelpsmoveaspacecraftforward
transcend–v.goingbeyondorrisingabovenormallimits
onthecontrary–phrase.theopposite
postagestamp–n.asmallsquareonaletterforpaymenttomail
commit–v.tosayyouwilldefinitelydosomething
cosmos–n.thesystemthatistheuniverse
timeline-n.ascheduleofevents
