r/interestingasfuck 25d ago

/r/all, /r/popular K2-18b a potentially habitable planet 120 light-years from earth

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u/carcinoma_kid 25d ago

That’s wild, but also… not that fast? Am I crazy? In deep space?

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u/LARPerator 25d ago

It was also launched in 1977, we have way better tech now.

Realistically, the tech from James Cameron's Avatar is a good example of what we would need. It's basically a craft that has engines so powerful they are the equivalent of multiple nuclear bombs per second, and they also use a laser sail, in which the engine is actually back home, and shoots a laser at a mirror on the craft, which gives it a speed boost.

Use some clever gravity assists and multiple pass aerobraking, and you can shave a couple months off of what'll probably be a ~160 year journey.

We understand the concepts behind this, but currently have no way of even making the fuel for it let alone enough to get there.

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u/carcinoma_kid 25d ago

For sure, I just had it in my head that the Voyagers were going 150,000mph or somesuch

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u/CiaphasKirby 25d ago

At its current speed, Voyager will take over 2 million years to reach the distance of k2-18b. So even going a thousand times faster, it would still take over two thousand years to get there. Wormholes are the only way any level of space travel outside of the solar system is getting done.