Many great movies and television shows, including the Lost in Space reboot, show various versions of interstellar travel. SpaceX and the new space race are making space geeks salivate at the thought. To those like myself who’ve cherished the idea since the debut of the Starship Enterprise, the question becomes, what is the reality that we could achieve such a feat in our lifetime?
There are two answers to that question. The first involves unmanned travel, which I consider cheating. I mean, where is the fun in that? None if you ask me.
A view of what a futuristic spacecraft may look like, as it approaches the Alpha Centauri star system. Image credit: The Cosmic Companion / original simulation created in Universe Sandbox / spacecraft design by Sutulo (Pixabay).
Robots could beat us there
Not to say there won’t be some benefit to mankind, and based on the current pattern, unmanned travel will naturally occur first, perhaps even decades before the manned interstellar travel and likely within the next twenty years.
For unmanned missions, researchers are already working on it. One project aims to use lasers to propel an armada of postage stamp size ships that could travel at impressive sub-light speeds. With multiple organizations, NASA included, working on such projects, it’s all but a foregone conclusion that we will see real images of the first extrasolar planets within 30 to 40 years or less.
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