Exterminate! Exterminate!!
You are right my friend. To travel to the nearest star in any real sense you would have to accelerate continuously until the halfway point, then decel at exactly the same rate in order to avoid speeding past your intended target. Can a human handle 8g continuous acceleration and deceleration? It’s a joke to think that any carbon-based being will someday be born on a sol-system planet and then take a trip to a star. People simply don’t comprehend the distance or physics involved. I blame Star Wars.
And by the way. If we are ever visited by aliens, they will be robots.
The article does not propose what you describe. RTFA. Humans are not going.
The article proposes accelerating a bunch of tiny probes to 0.2c via earth-based lasers. There is no plan for decelerating. Instead, the surviving probes will radio back what they see as they fly by their target at 0.2c, giving earthlings a close glimpse of nearby solar systems.
Probably should debug the probes using Mars fly-bys. Experiment is over in hours vs decades (experimental probe goes on to reach Pluto's orbit in a day or so).
Exterminate! Exterminate!!
“And by the way. If we are ever visited by aliens, they will be robots.”
That’s where I heard the name Dyson. He was the one who gave life to the terminators.
I haven't tried to work out the math on this. Is your 8G acceleration to get close to light speed?
Yes, I consider that whole methodology to be a non-starter in practical terms. Unless there is a breakthrough, "Star Trek" style interstellar travel is not going to happen.
That reminds of a “scientific” paper written in the 1800s explaining how people would die at any speed over 60mph. I’m not going to bet against human engenuity, it’s our greatest gift.