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A comment on Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 light years from Earth. Parent comment

Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by josho on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @01:45PM (#13708001)
If I understand our capabilities correctly we can't even escape the solar system without using gravity assist boosts from other planets, let alone sustaining thrust for a long period.

http://solarsystem.nasa.gov/basics/chapter4-1

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Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by narag on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @04:00PM (#13709100)
"Capabilities" seems a little ambiguous to me. Is it what we have done or what we could do? Using those boosts is a way to achieve the same results, only cheaper. Yes, it's slower than building a big ass rocket, but it seems people that sign the checks are in no hurry.

Also if I'm not mistaken, Voyager probes were not even intended to live so long or leave the system.

If there were a reason to send a probe to another star as soon as possible and no matter the cost, there would be a way, maybe not fast, maybe very expensive, maybe something weird, but it would be done.

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