# Nasa and Stephen Hawking to launch a 'self-healing' craft to reach habitable planet in 20 years



## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 12, 2016)

Nasa is working with Stephen Hawking to send a tiny nano-spacecraft to Alpha Centauri at one fifth the speed of light.















The team have been working on the challenge of how the spacecraft could survive the intense interstellar radiation on the 20-year trip to Earth's closest start system.

New research suggests that 'self-healing' silicon chips could be the answer.

Re-routing the mission to avoid high-radiation areas could add years to the mission, while protective shielding would add too much weight to the tiny spacecraft.

A new study from researchers at Nasa and the Korea Institute of Science and Technology (KAIST) says that self-healing silicon chips could be used to prolong the life of the tiny spacecraft.

The chip's tiny 20-nanometer features, make them lightweight and as well as resilient to cosmic rays, said the researchers.

'Therefore, the lifetime of devices can be extended, which opens an opportunity for nano-spacecraft sustainable for more than 20 years of deep space exploration,' says the paper.
( very interesting)
The findings were presented at the International Electron Devices Meeting in San Francisco last week.





Scientist and investor Yuri Milner holds up a prototype of the "Star Chip", a small robotic space craft that will enable intersteller travel as he poses with Professor Stephen Hawking and Professor Freeman Dyson


'Earth is a wonderful place, but it might not last forever,' commented Stephen Hawking, 'Sooner or later, we must look to the stars.

'Breakthrough Starshot is a very exciting first step on that journey.

'With light beams, light sails and the lightest spacecraft ever built we can launch a mission to Alpha Centauri within a generation,' said Hawking.

The $100 million research and engineering program will seek proof of concept for using light beam to propel super lightweight nanocraft to 20 per cent of light speed.


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## DeathtoGnomes (Dec 12, 2016)

and next we will use that to seed life on other planets. We are our own worst alien invasion.


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## dorsetknob (Dec 12, 2016)

Sorry but its "pie in the Sky science"
any Probe that's Sent outside our heolisphere to a distant Star to do meaningfull Science needs to slow down at its journeys end
it also needs to communicate its results back to earth.( size needed to power a transmitter to target and reach earth )
Thats going to be extreemly dificult if its still travelling at approx 20% lightspeed

I think a bigger probe is needed
Boosted by a Chemical Booster (jettisoned when empty) and a Gravity Slingshot  then powered by Ion Engines which could be used to slow its final approch.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 12, 2016)

I thought this video about it was very interesting.


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## DeathtoGnomes (Dec 12, 2016)

whats interesting to me is that in the 'merica, stories about other countries space related news gets put on the back burner, IF reported on at all. This video is the first I heard about Ikaros, I think its awesome that the sail are proven works.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 12, 2016)

IKAROS  is due to come out of hibernation and report back during the next couple of months. The last time it made contact was May 2015 when it was about 110 million kilometers away from the Earth, and about 130 million kilometers from the sun.

As of August 2013, IKAROS was continuing to gain speed. At that time, it had gained approximately 400 m/s of velocity from its solar sail. JAXA scientists stated that the measured thrust force by the solar radiation pressure on IKAROS' 196 m2 sail is 1.12 millinewtons.


I never saw this before.....shit, i love this stuff


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## bug (Dec 12, 2016)

I may be missing something here, but if the things does not communicate back, how is it useful? How do we even tell where it is?


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 12, 2016)

bug said:


> I may be missing something here, but if the things does not communicate back, how is it useful? How do we even tell where it is?



this is from wiki

The Starshot concept envisions launching a "mothership" carrying about a thousand tiny spacecraft (on the scale of centimeters) to a high-altitude orbit and then deploying them. Ground-based lasers would then focus a light beam on the crafts' solar sail to accelerate them one by one to the target speed within 10 minutes, with an average acceleration on the order of 100 km/s2, and an illumination energy on the order of 1 TJ delivered to each sail, estimated to have a surface area of 4 m × 4 m.[14][15]

If an Earth-size planet is orbiting within the Alpha Centauri system habitable zones, Breakthrough Starshot will try to aim its spacecraft within 1 astronomical unit (150 million kilometers or 93 million miles) of it. From this distance, a craft's cameras could potentially capture an image of high enough quality to resolve surface features.[16]

The fleet would have about 1000 spacecraft, and each one (dubbed a _StarChip_), would be a very small centimeter-sized vehicle weighing a few grams.[1] They would be propelled by a square-kilometre array of 10 kW ground-based lasers with a combined output of up to 100 GW.[17][18] Each spacecraft would transmit data back to Earth using a compact on-board laser communications system using its solar sail as an antenna and the propulsion array as the receiver.[17][18] A swarm of about 1000 units would compensate for the losses caused by interstellar dust collisions _en route_ to the target.[17][19]


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## eidairaman1 (Dec 12, 2016)

DeathtoGnomes said:


> and next we will use that to seed life on other planets. We are our own worst alien invasion.



By the time space travel is feasible I will be long gone.


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## dozenfury (Dec 12, 2016)

This type of deep space research will likely have more budget money and resources soon under Trump.  He's said he plans to redirect resources and money from Earth-focused NASA projects to outward non-Earth deeper space projects.  As far as non-Earth focused NASA projects like this we are probably going to see them accelerate and there will be more projects like this started.


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## dorsetknob (Dec 12, 2016)

Even after reading "The Wilki" i still think its "Pie in the Sky Science that's not pratical at the moment or near future"
my Reasons are
1.


CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> would be a very small centimeter-sized vehicle weighing a few grams.


that is to include a Camera .Communications gear Targeting Gear for both Camera and Communications all on a very small centimeter-sized vehicle
2,


CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Each spacecraft would transmit data back to Earth using a compact on-board laser communications system using its solar sail as an antenna and the propulsion array as the receiver


Since when have lasers used a solar sail as a Antenna
I Thought they used a Diode to generate and focus a light beam   And at the distance they propose its used would have to be very large and powerful laser.( all on a very small centimeter-sized vehicle )
what is going to power all this ???

Personally i think  for Prof Stephen Hawking to back this, his wheelchair must have developed a squeek that's driven him  nuts.


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## eidairaman1 (Dec 12, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Even after reading "The Wilki" i still think its "Pie in the Sky Science that's not pratical at the moment or near future"
> my Reasons are
> 1.
> 
> ...



He has always been off his rocker, or should I say wheelchair lol.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Dec 12, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> that is to include a Camera .Communications gear Targeting Gear for both Camera and Communications all on a very small centimeter-sized vehicle



yes its called starchip  (video in post#1)




dorsetknob said:


> Since when have lasers used a solar sail as a Antenna
> I Thought they used a Diode to generate and focus a light beam And at the distance they propose its used would have to be very large and powerful laser.( all on a very small centimeter-sized vehicle )
> what is going to power all this ???



video in post#1


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## f22a4bandit (Dec 12, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Even after reading "The Wilki" i still think its "Pie in the Sky Science that's not pratical at the moment or near future"
> my Reasons are
> 1.
> 
> ...



Flight was also considered "pie in the sky" science as well. It took 60 years for man to graduate from earthbound flight to setting a man on the moon. I'd put my money on humans figuring this out rather than chalking it up as another quirky idea that's not immediately practical.


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## eidairaman1 (Dec 13, 2016)

f22a4bandit said:


> Flight was also considered "pie in the sky" science as well. It took 60 years for man to graduate from earthbound flight to setting a man on the moon. I'd put my money on humans figuring this out rather than chalking it up as another quirky idea that's not immediately practical.




during that era of time Mankind actually had a drive, now they really don't.


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## R-T-B (Dec 13, 2016)

eidairaman1 said:


> during that era of time Mankind actually had a drive, now they really don't.



You think the tech revolution we're having is the result of a lack of drive?

Every generation since ancient eras has had their own version of the "youth going to hell in a handbasket" yet somehow we end up doing just fine and making advances all the time.

I'm skeptical of your skepticism.


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## eidairaman1 (Dec 13, 2016)

we Havent had that much of a revolution since the First Apple PC...


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## R-T-B (Dec 13, 2016)

eidairaman1 said:


> we Havent had that much of a revolution since the First Apple PC...



Uh, ok.


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## dorsetknob (Dec 13, 2016)

eidairaman1 said:


> we Havent had that much of a revolution since the First Apple PC...


Typical American
did your Tongue Burn when you say "Revolution"


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## Easy Rhino (Dec 13, 2016)

Wow, Hawking is just awful to look at. Brilliant man but very difficult to look at.


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## eidairaman1 (Dec 13, 2016)

dorsetknob said:


> Typical American
> did your Tongue Burn when you say "Revolution"



Nope, certainly didn't. I'm pretty sure yours did from drinking tea that was too hot and seeing that word lol.


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## CAPSLOCKSTUCK (Jul 27, 2017)

Breakthrough Starshot has successfully launched its first spacecraft, marking a major milestone for interstellar exploration and the search for life beyond our solar system.

The ‘Sprites,’  are the smallest fully functional space probes ever made, with each built on a single circuit board measuring just 1.4-by-1.4 inches (3.5-by-3.5cm).

With the launch of the prototype Sprites, the initiative has brought spacecraft miniaturization closer to reality, and, in turn, its ultimate goal of sending a fleet of tiny, light-propelled ‘StarChips’ to our closest stellar neighbour, Alpha Centau


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## Vayra86 (Jul 27, 2017)

But can it run Crysis?


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## bug (Jul 27, 2017)

The tiniest speck of dust will make short work of that ship.


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## silentbogo (Jul 27, 2017)

That starchip looks like one of my homebrew gadgets...
I'm wondering if it has enough horsepower to transmit anything from LEO?
It's basically powered by a single off-the-shelf CC430 microcontroller, which is basically an MSP430 and CC1120 in one package.
I know that CC1120 can do up to 100km with an amp in direct line of sight, but I'm not sure it can do 1000+km through ionosphere.
Sounds fishy.


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## Easy Rhino (Jul 27, 2017)

CAPSLOCKSTUCK said:


> Breakthrough Starshot has successfully launched its first spacecraft, marking a major milestone for interstellar exploration and the search for life beyond our solar system.
> 
> The ‘Sprites,’  are the smallest fully functional space probes ever made, with each built on a single circuit board measuring just 1.4-by-1.4 inches (3.5-by-3.5cm).
> 
> With the launch of the prototype Sprites, the initiative has brought spacecraft miniaturization closer to reality, and, in turn, its ultimate goal of sending a fleet of tiny, light-propelled ‘StarChips’ to our closest stellar neighbour, Alpha Centau



Small enough that you could just throw it into space


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## infrared (Jul 27, 2017)

silentbogo said:


> That starchip looks like one of my homebrew gadgets...
> I'm wondering if it has enough horsepower to transmit anything from LEO?
> It's basically powered by a single off-the-shelf CC430 microcontroller, which is basically an MSP430 and CC1120 in one package.
> I know that CC1120 can do up to 100km with an amp in direct line of sight, but I'm not sure it can do 1000+km through ionosphere.
> Sounds fishy.


Maybe that's what they plan to do, receive the signal from one of our satellites and re-transmit it back down to earth? 

Whatever they do I think this is a really cool project, can't wait to see what they do with it


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## the54thvoid (Jul 27, 2017)

infrared said:


> Maybe that's what they plan to do, receive the signal from one of our satellites and re-transmit it back down to earth?
> 
> Whatever they do I think this is a really cool project, can't wait to see what they do with it



You've seen the original Star Trek the motion picture right?  It'll be like V'Ger but cuter.


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