- Using current technologies, it would take thousands of years to reach our nearest star, Proxima Centauri.
- Over the years, scientists have considered several concepts that could dramatically reduce that travel time.
- Here are some of the most interesting interstellar spacecraft concepts that could one day travel far into interstellar space.
As science popularizer Carl Sagan once wrote, “All civilizations become either spacefaring or extinct.”
Humanity has sent probes to other planets, to their moons, and even into interstellar space, but we have yet to reach another star system.
The fact is that our nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is still far out of reach using current technologies. It is 4.24 light-years (or 1.3 parsecs) away from Earth, or 40,208,000,000,000 (4 trillion) kilometers away. Our fastest and most reliable form of space travel today, the ion drive, would take 18,000 years to reach the star if we actually had any way of powering it for such a long journey.
