Ion engines could take us to the solar gravitational lens in less than 13 years, suggests paper
phys.org
Sending an object to another star is still the stuff of science fiction. But some concrete missions could get us at least part way there. These "interstellar precursor missions" include a trip to the solar gravitational lens point at 550 AU from the sun—farther than any artificial object has ever been, including Voyager.
  • Delta_V@lemmy.worldEnglish
    1·
    23 days ago

    . . . plus however long it takes to figure out how to build a power source with 10x the energy density of any existing small nuclear reactor, or 100x the energy density of the radioisotope thermoelectric generators actually in use on spacecraft today. And it needs to run continuously, without maintenance, for >10 years.

    It would be an interesting location to place a telescope.