Nano-Starship Being Developed to Travel 20 Percent the Speed of Light

Space exploration has made major strides in the past century, bringing our understanding of far distant places closer to home. Recently at the Korea Institute of Science and Technology, the National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) along with renowned scientist Stephen Hawking, introduced their plan to build a nano-starship that can travel 20 percent (one fifth) of the speed of light. The nano-starship, given the name ‘Star-Chip’ due to its small size which is comparable to the size of a postage stamp, will utilize lasers to explore interstellar space and be propelled to our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri.



“The limit that confronts us now is the great void between us and the stars. But now we can transcend it. With light beams, light sails, and the lightest spacecraft ever built, we can launch a mission to Alpha Centauri within a generation,” said Hawking at the original project unveiling. “Today, we commit to this next great leap into the cosmos because we are human, and our nature is to fly.”

If the trip is successful the projected amount of time it would take StarChip to reach Alpha Centauri would be about 20 years. The amount of time needed to reach Alpha Centauri is an obstacle to many of the project researchers, being that the amount of radiation the spacecraft will encounter in space is more than enough to destroy it.



A possible solution that will not double or triple the length of the voyage while also sustaining the ship would be chip self-healing. By utilizing a 'gate-all-around' nanowire transistor, an electric current would be able to heat the chip contained within Star-Chip and therefore heal any damage incurred through exposure to radiation.

“On-chip healing has been around for many, many years,” said Jin-Woo Han, one of the NASA team members.

YOUR INPUT IS MUCH APPRECIATED! LEAVE YOUR COMMENT BELOW.

Share this: