Largest batch of Earth-size, habitable zone planets | | Exoplanet discovery: Seven Earth-sized ... | |
- TRAPPIST-1: HowLong Would It Take to Fly to 7-Planet System? ByHanneke Weitering, Staff Writer-Producer | February 23, 2017 04:20am ET The discovery of seven Earth-size planets arounda nearby star, TRAPPIST-1, is certainly exciting news. But what would it taketo visit one of these potentially Earth-like alien worlds? TRAPPIST-1 is 39 light-years away fromEarth, or about 229 trillion miles (369 trillion kilometers). It would take 39years to get there traveling at the speed of light. But no spacecraft everbuilt can travel anywhere near that fast. That said, people have sent some prettyfast vehicles into outer space. With today's technology, how long would it take to get toTRAPPIST-1? Characteristicsof the seven TRAPPIST-1 worlds, compared to the rocky planets in our solarsystem.Credit:NASA/JPL-Caltech Given a spacecraft's speed, calculatingthe amount of time it would take to travel to TRAPPIST-1 is simple. Becausespeed is equal to distance divided by time, the total travel time must equalthe distance to TRAPPIST-1 (39 light-years) divided by the spacecraft's speed. New Horizons New Horizons, the fastest spacecraft everlaunched, flew past Pluto in 2015 and is currently traveling out of thesolar system at 14.31 kilometers per second, or about 32,000 mph, according toNASA's New Horizon tracking page. At this rate, it would take the Pluto probeabout 317,000 years to reach TRAPPIST-1. Juno NASA's Juno spacecraft actually flewfaster than New Horizons during its approach to the gas giant Jupiter in 2016.With the help of Jupiter's gravity, Juno hit a top speed of about 165,000 mph(265,000 km/h) relative to Earth, making it the fastest human-made object ever(though New Horizons' initial speed was faster than Juno's speed after launch). Even if Juno were constantly travelingthat fast — not just getting a speed boost en route — it would take thespacecraft 158,600 years to reach TRAPPIST-1. Voyager 1 Voyager 1, Earth's most distantspacecraft, left the solar system and entered interstellar space in 2012.According to NASA, it is currently speeding away at 38,200 mph. For Voyager 1to get to TRAPPIST-1, it would take the spacecraft 685,130 years.But Voyager 1 isn't going there anytimesoon, or ever. Instead, the spacecraft is heading for a different star, AC +793888, which lies 17.6 light-years from Earth. It will fly within 1.7light-years of this star in about 40,000 years. Space Shutlle NASA's space shuttle traveled around theEarth at a maximum speed of about 17,500 mph (28,160 km/h). A spaceshiptraveling at this speed would take around 1.5 million years to get toTRAPPIST-1. So for a human mission to the TRAPPIST-1solar system, the space shuttle would not be a practical mode oftransportation. Breakthrough Starshot One ultrafast spacecraft that could reachTRAPPIST-1 in a much shorter time span is an interstellar mission dreamed up byStephen Hawking in his Breakthrough Starshot initiative. Hawking's tiny, laser-propelled probescould theoretically fly as fast as 20 percent of the speed of light, or 134million mph (216 million km/h). That's about 4,000 times faster than NASA'srecord-breaking New Horizons spacecraft! A spacecraft that fast could reachTRAPPIST-1 in less than 200 years. But that concept has yet to leave theground. Anartist's impression of the view from a planet in the TRAPPIST-1 system.Credit:ESO/M. Kornmesser/spaceengine.org With today's technology, there's no waythat anyone alive right now could make it to TRAPPIST-1 in a lifetime. Whilediscussing the new discovery at a news conference today (Feb. 22), NASAofficials suggested that it would likely take at least 800,000 years to reachthe TRAPPIST-1 system. So don't start making any interstellarvacation plans anytime soon. From:ajeg Sent: Tuesday, January 24, 2017 9:32 PM Goodbye, Earth: 'We'regoing to live on Mars in 2027' From: ajeg Sent: Wednesday, January 4, 2017 8:28 AM our only goal will be the western shore immigrant song .
