Re:Voyager 1 is back online! NASA spacecraft returns data fr...
by toast0 on Saturday June 15, 2024 @12:32PM
(#40690780)
> Man - why go there? What are we looking to learn?
The how is a much bigger problem than the why. It would be great to have some closer sampling of Proxima b, such as images, spectroscopy, etc. You won't get much on a 0.15c flyby, but you'd get something, hopefully. No room for error of course, with a several year round trip for commands.
Having some sense of the planet could inform a colonization plan that's likely to have even bigger problems with the hows rather than the whys.
But the whys are clear. Even if it's not actually feasible.
The how is a much bigger problem than the why. It would be great to have some closer sampling of Proxima b, such as images, spectroscopy, etc. You won't get much on a 0.15c flyby, but you'd get something, hopefully. No room for error of course, with a several year round trip for commands.
Having some sense of the planet could inform a colonization plan that's likely to have even bigger problems with the hows rather than the whys.
But the whys are clear. Even if it's not actually feasible.