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A comment on A Visionary Project Aims for Alpha Centauri, a Star 4.37 Light-Years Away. Parent comment

Re:A Visionary Project Aims for Alpha Centauri, a Star 4.37 ... by JoeAltmaier on Tuesday April 12, 2016 @06:00PM (#11483953)
I also am skeptical. Why not instead try to send a probe into the interior of the sun? (because its cooler there than at the point of those lasers) Why not create a survey of the Oort cloud (because its an order of magnitude closer). This project seems cool; but maybe not well thought out.
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Re:A Visionary Project Aims for Alpha Centauri, a Star 4.37 ... by grecy on Tuesday April 12, 2016 @09:25PM (#11485021)
These people are obviously very passionate about their project, and they're moving forward on something they want to do. If you're so passionate about those projects you mentioned, start making them happen!

Don't sit around complaining about people who are "doing" stuff because they're not doing the stuff you want them to be doing. Get out there and do the stuff yourself!

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Re:A Visionary Project Aims for Alpha Centauri, a Star 4.37 ... by JoeAltmaier on Wednesday April 13, 2016 @11:31AM (#11489029)
Good attitude! Still, it doesn't make their project any more likely to succeed. Those others I mentioned - easier by an order of magnitude. It makes them sound insincere.
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Re:A Visionary Project Aims for Alpha Centauri, a Star 4.37 ... by ryao on Tuesday April 12, 2016 @06:15PM (#11484051)
That depends on how much energy that the space craft reflects. If it reflects all of it, the space craft would not gain any heat at all unless there is some weird quantum effect that would mean otherwise.
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Re:A Visionary Project Aims for Alpha Centauri, a Star 4.37 ... by JoeAltmaier on Tuesday April 12, 2016 @06:45PM (#11484235)
Likewise, such a spacecraft could survive the inside of the sun.
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Re:A Visionary Project Aims for Alpha Centauri, a Star 4.37 ... by nardi on Tuesday April 12, 2016 @07:02PM (#11484341)
I'm not a physicist, but it seems like perfectly reflecting photons in a vacuum is different from being immune to conductive heat transfer in a plasma.
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Re:A Visionary Project Aims for Alpha Centauri, a Star 4.37 ... by gunn on Tuesday April 12, 2016 @07:16PM (#11484433)
That and reflecting one wavelength vs a wide spectrum.
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