[ExI] The Universe is big - really, really BIG.

[BillK]

We can leave the Solar System, but arriving anywhere is not happening soon.
What if we dropped interstellar ambitions and focused on understanding
our home system?
Paul Sutter - 7/10/2023

<https://arstechnica.com/science/2023/07/get-comfortable-in-the-solar-system-well-be-here-for-a-while/>

Quote:
If we want to travel among the stars, we have to figure out a way to
conquer the unfathomable gulfs of nothingness that separate us. Let’s
leave aside the idea of sending humans on that kind of expedition
anytime soon, if ever. We can’t even send people to Mars, the next
nearest planet, without intense investment to solve the engineering
challenges associated with such a journey.

So let’s focus on robotic probes for now, as that will have to do for
several generations to come. If we want to get to Proxima Centauri
quickly, we have to accelerate our craft to a decent fraction of the
speed of light (and even that’s not that fast; a probe capable of
near-light speed would still take nearly half a decade).
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BillK