What if we will send the probe to Proxima Centauri B?

 

What if we will send the probe to Proxima Centauri B?

This is one of the most fascinating ideas, that I have faced. The interstellar flight to the closest star of the Sun is one of the most interesting and difficult things, what we can imagine, and the fact is that we cannot even handle the interplanetary flight, and that means the journey to that planet would take an extremely long time.

If we would create the lightweight antimatter rocket, what will reach the speed of 20% of the speed of the light, that rocket can reach the Proxima Centauri B about 21 years after the launch. The distance Proxima Centauri is 4,244 LY (1) and that is the only star, where we could send a probe in realistic visions. But the project itself would take tens of years. 

So for making the mission successful, that system requires sophisticated artificial intelligence. That kind of system must operate independently because of the one-way journey of the radio message will take over four years. 

In that case, the rocket would contain about 5-6 grams of antimatter, which is produced at CERN or captured from the solar wind. That extremely reactive and dangerous material would close in the magnetic bottle, and then the other component of the fuel would be stored in the rocket. The annihilation reaction would happen in the combustion chamber, where the antimatter ions would be conducted by using magnetic tracks. 

Even if the gram of antimatter could carry the 1000 kg spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, the real needed load of antimatter would be bigger, because the spacecraft could need to maneuver, and then the retrorockets must decrease the speed by using the same force, what the spacecraft used for acceleration. So the minimum mass of antimatter would be two grams, but there should be some kind of reserve for the unexpected maneuvers, and that kind of rocket must be built far away from Earth. 

Or actually, it could fly to the trajectory of Neptune, and there some other spacecraft would shoot the cathode ray to the leaf-gold plate, where the antimatter would be formed. The problem with antimatter is that the gram of that thing can destroy the entire Earth. 

The rocket could be modified Falcon-9 (2) rocket and the payload, what that kind of system can carry out from the solar system would not be very big, and the size of that probe is not very big. And that kind of extremely expensive mission requires that the large area of that planet would be researched. 

So the thing that the rocket could send to that planet would be a small nuclear-powered drone. That kind of artificial intelligence operating drone, what might look like MQM-105 "Aquila" (3) might have the capacity to map the surface of the planet and also the underwater areas. But the problem is how to complete the fully independent-operating drone, what weight is less than 200 kilograms. So as you see this kind of operation would be only one version of theoretical space missions. 

(1) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proxima_Centauri

(2) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Falcon_9

(3) https://www.wikiwand.com/en/Lockheed_MQM-105_Aquila

Image: https://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/3/35/Antimatter_Rocket.jpg