Will a manmade object make it to the nearest star (not our Sun) within 500 years?

I want to do a color run

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Within 500 years? Easily. That's more than long enough to turn current ideas like Alcubierre warp drives into a reality.

PC is 4.243 light years away. The following article says 81,000 years or 2,700 human generations

http://www.universetoday.com/15403/how-long-would-it-take-to-travel-to-the-nearest-star/

The was 81,000 years was using a rather slow method, considering the others (keep reading). But it's still over 10,000 years using the limits of current technology.

At space shuttle speeds (relative to earth) of 17500 mph I get ~162,700 years: 4.243 light years x sec in a year (365.25 days x 24 hr x 60 min x 60s) x speed of light (~3 x 10^8 m/s) / 1609 (convert m into mi) / 17500 mph (space shuttle speed) / 24 hr / 365.25 day = ~162,700 years. So I think to make it in 500 years it'd have to travel about 5.7 million mph.

Definitely possible. A recent idea was floated to accelerate a miniature probe, basically the size of a cell phone, up to 10% of light speed using lasers and get it there in 40 yeas.

Something using current technology launched today? No, not even close.

Something using future technology launched x years from now making it in 500-x years? I still think highly unlikely. It's such a leap forward from where we are now. But then again look how far we've come in only the last 60-70 years.

Will we ever have the capacity? Who knows, it's probably more likely we destroy ourselves before then.

The wild card would be if an et visits earth and gives a man-made object a lift when he leaves.

Will man make it to the next closest star in the next 500 years? Hard to say, probably not is my guess.

Will manmade objects? Absolutely. The smartest guy on earth thinks it could be done in less than 20 years.

http://www.smithsonianmag.com/smart-news/stephen-hawking-and-billionaire-announce-project-send-tiny-probes-nearest-star-system-180958745/

Zuck and some rich Russians are dropping $100mil to use light sails to get there in 20 years. Trying to move a lightweight craft at 1/5 the speed of light.

Trust in Zuck!

Dingler wrote:

Something using current technology launched today? No, not even close.

Something using future technology launched x years from now making it in 500-x years? I still think highly unlikely. It's such a leap forward from where we are now. But then again look how far we've come in only the last 60-70 years.

Will we ever have the capacity? Who knows, it's probably more likely we destroy ourselves before then.

I'm gonna have to slightly disagree with you. We've made great technological advances in the last 100-120 years, but in the last 60-70, not so much. 70 years ago was 1947. The atomic bomb was already developed before then. 60 years ago was 1957, the year sputnik was launched into space. So there was a lot of development of rocket technology in the range from 50-70 years ago. But in the last 50 years, we haven't done much. Our actual technological advances (especially pertaining to space travel) have really stagnated for the last 50 years. We've discovered a more sub atomic particles and how they interact. And we've daydreamed a lot about ways to manipulate the space time continuum. But actual applied science in this area has plateaued for now. Most of the technological development is on the relatively small scale of computing technology.

Saturn V was the GOAT rocket.

clownsrus wrote:

Saturn V was the GOAT rocket.

Very good. Unfortunately, of course, Saturn was doped to the gills.

Have to disagree, Voyager 1. Furtherest man made object from our planet.

That said, your post

Have to disagree, Voyager 1. Furtherest man made object from our planet.

That said, your post

Last year NASA made a shuttle that can withstand speeds faster than the speed of light. Now, I question how they tested it... But in 500 years I would suspect they can work the kinks out.

sbeefyk1 wrote:

Last year NASA made a shuttle that can withstand speeds faster than the speed of light. Now, I question how they tested it... But in 500 years I would suspect they can work the kinks out.

2/10 on Hawkins troll scale

I think that helicopter that was going to the moon a while back would be able to make it (or some shit).

http://www.letsrun.com/forum/flat_read.php?thread=4988506

If an Alcubierre Drive could be built, sure, something manmade could get to Proxima Centauri in 500 years. But mankind can't build it now, and may never be able to build it. The theory requires some exotic matter that may not exist.

The Resonant Cavity Thruster (also known as the EMdrive, Cannae Drive) is supposed to be a closed system drive that requires no propellant, which would violate the Law of Thermodynamics.

Several different groups around the world have built test models and reported positive thrust. The Chinese later retracted their results, but have actually tested a model on their space station and reported positive thrust. A Finnish group has put forth a paper explaining how such a drive could work without violating the Laws of Thermodynamics. NASA has released a paper on the EMdrive that has passed peer review. And Cannae's group is funding an orbital test in the near future.

If the Emdrive is the real deal and you scaled them up it would still take more than 10,000 years to get to Proxima.

Using current technology is even worse. basically we boost something with limited propellant, and then it coasts at the same speed for most of the journey.

The New Horizons probe to Pluto launched with solar escape velocity (earth velocity plus launch velocity) of about 100,000 miles per hour. At that speed it would take about 30,000 years to get to Proxima.

But it doesn't stay at that speed. The sun's gravity is slowing it down and it will end up with a solar system escape velocity of about 35,000 mph. At that speed it would take about 90,000 years to get to Proxima.

Now if you are talking about a 1 pound object instead of a 1,000 pound object, then there are ways of getting it to go fast. Especially if it is just a chunk of metal that can be abused by high accelerations. But still, 500 years isn't doable.

So, no. Right now we can't get anything solid to Proxima Centauri within 500 years.