Spacecraft Made from Ultra Thin Foam Can Reach Proxima Centauri in 185 Years

In a study that is due to be published in the journal Astronomy & Astrophysics, René Heller from the Max Planck Institute for Solar System Research, Germany, and colleagues, propose the spacecraft as a precursor to interstellar travel—beyond our own solar system. They estimate a prototype would cost around $1 million, while the launch of an interplanetary mission would be around $10 million.

The spacecraft would be made from aerographite. This is a carbon-based foam that is around 15,000 times more lightweight than aluminium. It is versatile and light enough that it could be used to create solar sails—which harness energy from the sun for propulsion, a process called solar photon pressure. ... The team found if its shell was just 0.5 millimeters thick and the spacecraft was released from Earth, it could reach Mars in 60 days and Pluto in 4.3 years—less than half the time it took New Horizons. Heller said these spacecraft could travel far faster than any probe ever sent by humans before. "Voyager 1 currently recedes from the Sun with a speed of 17 km/s (10.5mp/s). Solar photon sails made of graphene could, in principle, go beyond 100 km/s (62mps) or even 1000 km/s (620mps).