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Originally posted by seryn:
i would have thought that if its that close, our energies would be better spent in developing methods of terraforming and identifying likely planets.

Can we even see other solar sytems in detail yet? have we identified other possible stars with planets in its hospitable zones?

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Originally posted by Finn Mac Cuhmal:
I’m not sure what I think about the matter/anti-matter engine bit. I hate to go against Hawking, if indeed he actually said this, but anti-matter is not a particularly easy material to produce. At our current rate of production it would take longer then the universe may be likely to exist to produce enough of it to fuel a spaceship to the closest star outside of our solar system. I’d say nuclear propulsion is probably the more feasible.

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Originally posted by seryn:
I was very excited by the 'would only take around six years' to travel to the nearest star- I would have thought even with the engines he spoke of, it would be those ships in which the people board and its their great great great great great grandkids who get off.

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Originally posted by DonCoat:

There have been some very slick proposals as to how to send the robots, such as laser-driven lightsails and Bussard ramjets (which pull in and compress interstellar hydrogen gas and use it in fusion reactors for propulsion).

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