Star Trek has taken us to many distant places, many of which we can only dream of. But that dream could be a step closer to becoming reality through the development of tiny spacecraft.
Called Sprites, these matchbook-sized spaceprobes can do all the things that Sputnik could, and so much more! Recently, Starshot, the developer of the Sprites, launched several of them into Earth's orbit, where they are now happily doing their own thing.
These tiny little spacecraft, which were a $100- million R&D initiative, are considered the smallest functional spaceprobes on the planet.
The aforementioned Sputnik 1 was the size of a grapefruit, and could do considerably less than the matchbook-sized Sprites. This is extraordinary, considering the size, and smaller amount of resources used to create.
"This is a very early version of what we would send on interstellar distances." Starshot's Executive Director told Scientific American.
Starshot hopes to eventually send these Sprites to the three stars of Alpha Centauri, a solar system that lies 4 lightyears away in the southern constellation Centaurus. According to recent research, one of the planets in that system, a planet called Proxima B, might be habitable.
To do this, the Sprites would have to travel at about 20% of the speed of light, roughly 134,000,000 miles an hour. If the sprites could reach such speeds, the tiny spaceprobes would reach Proxima B in about 23 years, Worden told NBC News MACH in an email.
The Sprites cost only $25 to produce apiece, and a few hundred dollars to launch. According to Dr. Zachary Manchester, a postdoctoral fellow in computer science at Harvard University and advisor to Starshot, "We could launch hundreds or even thousands in groups, or 'swarms' to places where we can't send large, expensive spacecraft." Manchester told MACH in an email. "For example, they could enter a planets atmosphere to directly sample it."
Worden called the successful launch of the Sprites a "great start.", but he also said: "significant additional work will be needed before we can launch such spacecraft to Alpha Centauri."
What do you think? Pleae let us know in the comments! We always love to hear your opinions.
WRITTEN BY Nesta
EDITED BY Three of Seven - rena.hobden@ufplanets.com
