That’s the shortest period of time it would take us to get to the closest star (Proxima Centauri) with current realistic technology according to this Universe Today article. And what do I have to say about it?
What’s the freaking hold up? Seriously. Eight-five years is pretty good time considering it’s over four lightyears to the nearest star. Heck, I’d probably volunteer to go if my girlfriend could go with me. So, where are our Orion Project rockets and such? Where are our nuclear pulse engines to drive us at five percent the speed of light?
Someone over and NASA better be paying attention. I demand you get on top of it! Somebody’s tax dollars are paying for you folks to do something good…so, there better be cool nuclear-powered engine things in our near future!
On a side note: Does anyone know how long it would take, factoring in the acceleration and deceleration, to get from here to Mars with one of those pulse engines? Because, if it’s a technology we could really utilize, we might want to consider it as a quicker way of getting us there and back. Just saying.
(Don’t click the read more, there isn’t any more after this!)
