A group of physicists has decided to estimate how long it would take for us to reach other star systems in the Milky Way using current spacecraft.
The research team examined four spacecraft launched into space by NASA. The calculations help us envision the time humanity would have to wait to escape the Solar System.
All findings indicate that space travelers will have to wait much longer. It could take tens of thousands of years before any spacecraft can get close to another planetary system. When it comes to direct contact with extraterrestrial civilizations, humanity may have to wait several billion years.
Voyager 1.
Two scientists, Coryn Bailer-Jones from the Max Planck Institute for Astronomy in Germany and Davide Farnocchia from NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory in the United States, analyzed the latest data provided by the Gaia space telescope (from the European Space Agency) to reach these conclusions.
The latest cosmic map reveals the positions of about 7.2 million stars. The data is linked to the projected trajectories of the Pioneer 10, Pioneer 11, Voyager 1, and Voyager 2 spacecraft. The results are not at all “pleasant.”
Over the next million years, the four spacecraft mentioned will pass near approximately 60 stars, and they will be very close to about 10 of those stars. However, it is essential to emphasize that “very close” means a distance of 2 parsecs, or about 6 light-years.
The Pioneer 10 spacecraft has the greatest chance of approaching a star system “the fastest.” After about 90,000 years, it will fly past the star system HIP 117795, located in the constellation of Cassiopeia.
Of course, future spacecraft do not have to follow the same path, but technology is always advancing. The binary star system Alpha Centauri is 4.37 light-years away (1.34 parsecs). At its current speed, Voyager 1 could reach this star system in about 80,000 years.
These calculations, although not yet specifically examined, help us visualize the vastness of galaxies and the universe in general. We will need to discover new technologies if we wish to venture beyond the Solar System.
This will undoubtedly be a task for several generations; experts believe that one day we may be able to travel at speeds close to the speed of light. This would allow us to reach the Alpha Centauri system in about 4 years.
