Space mining startup set for launch in US

[Katashi_itto]

40. Yep, your absolutely right :) Theorectically its the faster ship we can build.

With or current level of tech.

Prime targets for interstellar travel

There are 59 known stellar systems within 20 light years from the Sun, containing 81 visible stars. The following could be considered prime targets for interstellar missions:[5]
Stellar system Distance (ly) Remarks
Alpha Centauri 4.3 Closest system. Three stars (G2, K1, M5). Component A similar to our sun (a G2 star).
Barnard's Star 6.0 Small, low luminosity M5 red dwarf. Next closest to Solar System.
Sirius 8.7 Large, very bright A1 star with a white dwarf companion.
Epsilon Eridani 10.8 Single K2 star slightly smaller and colder than the Sun. Has an asteroid belt, might have a giant and one much smaller planet,[6] and may possess a solar system type planetary system.
Tau Ceti 11.8 Single G8 star similar to the Sun. High probability of possessing a solar system type planetary system.
Gliese 581 20.3 Multiple planet system. The unconfirmed exoplanet Gliese 581 g and the confirmed exoplanet Gliese 581 d are in the star's habitable zone.


You have

Orion Drive
Light Sail (Beamed propulsion)
Interstellar ramjets
and one other( I cant remember what it was)
as the choices for interstellar spacecraft

Methods for slow manned missions

Slow interstellar travel designs such as Project Longshot generally use near-future propulsion technologies. As a result, voyages are extremely long and risky, starting from about one hundred years and reaching to thousands of years. Crewed voyages (speculative) might be one-way trips to set up colonies.

Nevertheless, serious if preliminary discussions are taking root for the ~100 year time scale, with trials of the MMSEV/Nautilus-X[23][24] concept preliminary to asteroid exploration in preparation.[25][26]

The duration of a slow interstellar journey presents a major obstacle. The following are some proposed solutions:
[edit] Enzmann starship
Main article: Enzmann starship

The Enzmann starship, as detailed by G. Harry Stine in the October 1973 issue of Analog, was a design for a future starship, based on the ideas of Dr. Robert Duncan-Enzmann.[27] The spacecraft itself as proposed used a 12,000,000 ton ball of frozen deuterium to power 12–24 thermonuclear pulse propulsion units.[27] Twice as long as the Empire State Building and assembled in-orbit, the spacecraft was part of a larger project preceded by interstellar probes and telescopic observation of target star systems.[27][28]
[edit] Generation ships
Main article: Generation ship

A generation ship is a type of interstellar ark in which the crew which arrives at the destination is descended from those who started the journey. Generation ships are not currently feasible, because of the difficulty of constructing a ship of the enormous required scale, and the great biological and sociological problems that life aboard such a ship raises.
[edit] Suspended animation

Scientists and writers have postulated various techniques for suspended animation. These include human hibernation and cryonic preservation. While neither is currently practical, they offer the possibility of sleeper ships in which the passengers lie inert for the long years of the voyage.
[edit] Extended human lifespan

A variant on this possibility is based on the development of substantial human life extension, such as the "Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence" proposed by Dr. Aubrey de Grey. If a ship crew had lifespans of some thousands of years, or had artificial bodies, they could traverse interstellar distances without the need to replace the crew in generations. The psychological effects of such an extended period of travel would potentially still pose a problem.
[edit] Frozen embryos
Main article: Embryo space colonization

A robotic space mission carrying some number of frozen early stage human embryos is another theoretical possibility. This method of space colonization requires, among other things, the development of a method to replicate conditions in a uterus, the prior detection of a habitable terrestrial planet, and advances in the field of fully autonomous mobile robots and educational robots which would replace human parents.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_travel