Astronomers are opening up new possibilities for traveling to other stars and searching for life on planets similar to the exoplanet LHS 1140b. About this writes Gizmodo.
The atmosphere of an exoplanet and new horizons of science
The recent confirmation of an atmosphere around the rocky exoplanet LHS 1140b has sparked considerable interest in the astronomical community. The planet is located about 48 light-years from Earth and orbits within the habitable zone of its red dwarf star, a region where temperatures allow water to remain liquid on the surface.
Although astronomers have recorded the loss of helium from the planet's upper atmosphere, heavier chemical compounds may be preserved below, including water, a key ingredient for life.
Prospects for interstellar travel
The study of distant planets is inspiring scientists to create technologies for flights to other stars. The main focus is on tiny spacecraft, because they are much easier and cheaper to launch than large vehicles. Thanks to technology from smartphones, scientists have even created “smart dust” - microscopic sensors that can measure light, temperature and chemicals.
To travel to other stars at 10–20% of the speed of light, space probes need special engines. This is an idea being explored by the Breakthrough Starshot project, which is exploring interstellar travel using tiny probes with lightweight sails.
Light and solar sail technology
Light sails are thin reflective membranes. They can be accelerated using directed laser energy: light waves create pressure on the mirror, which serves as the driving force. For relativistic speeds, a powerful laser array with an effective power of tens of gigawatts would be required.
The advantage of such systems is that the heavy laser assembly remains on Earth, and only a light payload is accelerated to the stars. However, the disadvantage is that the probe cannot be easily slowed down, which means that it will pass by the target star system in only a few days.
In addition to laser sails for interstellar travel, there are solar sails that use the pressure of sunlight and are already being used for missions within the Solar System. The idea of using reflective membranes was first proposed in the 1920s by astronautics pioneers Konstantin Tsiolkovsky and Friedrich Zander. As Konstantin Tsiolkovsky noted, it involved using “huge mirrors made of very thin sheets.”
