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Project Chrysalis: Proposed spacecraft could carry up to 2,400 people on a one-way trip to the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri (www.canva.com)

submitted 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) by nuko147@lemmy.world to c/space@mander.xyz

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Engineers have designed a spacecraft that could take up to 2,400 people on a one-way trip to Alpha Centauri, the star system closest to our own. The craft, called Chrysalis, could make the 25 trillion mile (40 trillion kilometer) journey in around 400 years, the engineers say in their project brief, meaning many of its potential passengers would only know life on the craft.

Chrysalis is designed to house several generations of people until it enters the star system, where it could shuttle them to the surface of the planet Proxima Centuri b — an Earth-size exoplanet that is thought to be potentially habitable.

This plan is purely hypothetical, as some of the required technology, like commercial nuclear fusion reactors, don't yet exist. However, hypothetical projects like this one can still add to our existing knowledge base and help engineers improve upcoming designs.

Their presentation on Canva

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[–] gian@lemmy.grys.it 7 points 3 months ago* (last edited 3 months ago) (1 children)

Voyager I and Voyager II begs to differ.

We are able to build things that last decades, we just don't want to do it.
I am not saying it is simple nor that we have all the tech yet, but we demonstrated it could be done.

Moreover, I think that people make a basic error when talking about generational ships: everyone think that it would be something like Star Trek or any other SciFi movie, but in reality it should be build to be maintenable without any external support so it must be simple, don't require high tech to function and redundant. So forget modern processors, the computer, like everything else, should be reparaible without any external assistance (and I agree that mayba a processor don't last anywhere near 400 years even if not used).

[–] threelonmusketeers@sh.itjust.works 2 points 3 months ago

in reality it should be build to be maintenable without any external support so it must be simple, don't require high tech to function

A generational ship is still a spaceship though, which requires a pretty high level of tech. You can't build a spaceship out of sticks and stones.

I suspect generational ships will have to be like small cities, with fairly advanced and extensive manufacturing capabilities.