We've already done what they're claiming to be first doing with multiple probes heading into interstellar space, that actually did more than serve as some rock thrown out into space, and are still giving data, which this won't. It also doesn't check off the list what they specifically mention, as no human is leaving the system.
It would be interesting if it was doing some science on the way, but I didn't see anything mentioned.
"I'm gonna be the first person to throw a rock onto that highway!"
Cars driving on the highway: "Please don't."
The neat thing about very long term missions like this is we might develop new technologies quickly enough to reach the destination before this one does.
That's pretty much the idea behind the original comic run of Guardians of the Galaxy.
Interesting. Could you elaborate?
This was the original team from 1969 - the main character is an astronaut (Vance Astro) who was sent to Alpha Centauri - in suspended animation, because the trip took a thousand years. When he arrives, he finds that faster than light travel was discovered in the meantime and Alpha Centauri has already been colonised by humans for centuries. He ends up forming a superhero team, with a bunch of its members being used (heavily changed) as the Ravagers in the MCU.
The modern incarnation of the Guardians (from 2008) sprang up from a big cosmic event Annihilation: Conquest, though its roster was to a large extent similar to an older team called Infinity Watch. They are joined by Vance Astro - amnesiac, having traveled through time and dimensions, since the original GotG run took place in an alternate universe from the mainstream Marvel continuity, and take up the GotG name on his suggestion, though otherwise they have nothing to do with the old team. There are some crossovers with various versions of the original team later on in the run.
Very cool. Thanks for sharing!
No problem! This was my favourite time and niche in the mainstream comics, starting roughly with the 2004 Thanos series by Starlin which lead directly into Annihilation and later Nova and GotG and a bunch of big cosmic events tying everything together.
All of these stories took place far away from Earth, largely disconnected to the happenings in the more popular Marvel titles, and mostly ran on the idea of taking super obscure D-listers, both heores and villains, and having the freedom to rework them into great characters. Like, nobody cared about Groot.
The team was introduced into the MCU at a time this line of comics more or less ended after 10 glorious years. Suddenly they became hot stuff, so of course they started popping up all over Marvel, and of course the new writers didn't respect the continuity and the new cosmic stuff was largely trash. That's how it goes I guess.
The mission is intended to make the idea of interstellar travel real
It already is more real than this project's goals seem to want. Both Voyagers are in interstellar space, as the article points out as well.
How is this an idea for a startup?
An international project, yes. A single government's project, maybe. A nonprofit, perhaps.
But a startup business needs to have a plan to make a profit. And 80,000 years is a long time to wait for return on investment.
«Startup» is just clickbait in the heading. The article clearly states it is a nonprofit org. They’re just making a small cubesat and throwing it in the direction of Alpha Centauri.
Well ... that's kind of useless, isn't it?
No way it has enough power and signal range to communicate any scientific findings back to Earth.
No way is has the ability to decelerate so it could enter orbit and/or make a controlled landing on a planet.
No way it has sufficient ability to maneuver and correct course during travel, so it will probably miss the Alpha Centauri system altogether and just go whizzing right past it.
Best case scenario (requiring a whole lot of luck) is that it randomly ends up in a wide orbit around Alpha Centauri, to perhaps someday be a curiosity rediscovered by astro-archaeologists. Just a curiosity, mind you -- not officially the first successful interstellar mission, because (hopefully) a faster and more effective mission is launched within the next 80,000 years and actually gets there first.
Oh, I guess there's also a vanishingly small possibility that intelligent technological life might develop in the Alpha Centauri system within the next 80,000 years ... in time for them to be able to detect the cubesat when it arrives. They'll get a kick out of finding evidence of another technological civilization from the stars ... one that's probably long dead or entirely replaced by robots or something by that point.
Would be interesting if someone was able to develop electronics that survive that long. Or are they just going to hurl a chunk of aluminium over there?
1U cube sat that won't send anything back. Neat. So it's just a brick.
Great PR stunt
We just send a bunch of jizz in a box in the general direction of various planets and hope that a million years from now there will be life somewhere.
Most startups don't last 3 years.... 80,000 years. LMAO
I really hope it becomes the Golgafrinchans B-ARC.
That's a fair bit faster than even Voyager 1 (which isn't aiming for Alpha Centauri), but man, 80,000 years is still a long time...
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