Laser-propelled probes could make the interstellar journey to exoplanet Proxima b within fifty years. It all amounts to a monstrous engineering challenge, but project researchers say it is possible and are now moving towards that goal. Then it would need to collect useful data during a 60,000-kilometre-per-second fly-by of the Proxima system, and beam the information back across the 4 light years to Earth. To reach it within a scientist’s working lifetime, a probe would have to reach around one-fifth the speed of light and navigate a treacherous path through unseen debris in our own Solar System and interstellar space. Despite Proxima b’s name, it is still nearly 2,000 times farther from Earth than any human-made object has ever travelled. Anglada-Escudé et al. Nature 536, 437–440 2016), the project gained an even more tantalizing target. They announced Breakthrough Starshot, an effort backed by US$100 million from Russian investor Yuri Milner to vastly accelerate research and development of a space probe that could make the trip. In fact, a few months before the discovery of the exoplanet, a group of business leaders and scientists took the first steps towards visiting the Alpha Centauri star system, thought to be home to Proxima. The idea of reaching Proxima b is not just science fiction. The data beamed back could reveal whether the alien world offers the right conditions for life-and maybe even whether anything inhabits it. “Clearly it would be a huge step forward for humanity if we could reach out to the nearest star system,” says Bruce Betts, director of science and technology for the Planetary Society in Pasadena, California. Sending a spacecraft to the planet, dubbed Proxima b, would give humans their first view of a world outside the Solar System. It’s a tempting-some might say irresistible-destination. In August, researchers reported the discovery of a potentially habitable, Earth-sized planet orbiting the Sun’s closest stellar neighbour- Proxima Centauri, a mere 1.3 parsecs, or 4.22 light years, away. The publisher provided me with a copy of this book in exchange for my honest review.Anybody who longs to see an alien world up close got an exciting gift last year. I recommend Path to the Stars for readers aged 10 to 14. It’s a lesson that can resonate at any age. I particularly like Acevedo’s linking of earning Girl Scout badges, which meant she had to break down what she wanted to achieve into doable steps, to her ultimate realization that she could approach anything she wanted in life that way.
#A path towards the stars how to#
It’s an interesting story that I expect will inspire girls to dream big and learn how to reach their goals. As she set her sights on college, Acevedo knew she would have to earn multiple scholarships to make college, and then graduate school, possible.Īcevedo talks about her experience growing up bilingual and poor in New Mexico, and how she eventually earned college degrees, became a rocket scientist, then went on to lead the Girl Scouts of America in her memoir Path to the Stars: My Journey from Girl Scout to Rocket Scientist. Her personal drive, as well as her curiosity, led her to bring more stability and planning to her home even though her parents weren’t good at those things. She liked math, and she liked figuring things out, which helped her do well in school.Īfter Acevedo became a Girl Scout and started earning badges, she began to realize that she could learn to do anything she was interested in. As a young girl growing up in Las Cruces, New Mexico, Sylvia Acevedo pushed back on social and cultural norms that told her a girl could only grow up to be a wife and mother.
0 kommentar(er)
