Editing Alpha Centauri (section)

== Future exploration ==
{{See also|2069 Alpha Centauri mission}}

[[File:PIA18003-NASA-WISE-StarsNearSun-20140425-2 correction.png|thumb|upright=1.2|Diagram of the [[List of nearest stars|closest stars]] to the Sun, within 7.5 light years|alt=Series of partial circles centred on a small yellow disk labelled "Sun", each circle labelled with a distance, and several other small disks labelled with the names of stars]]

Alpha Centauri is a first target for crewed or robotic [[Interstellar travel|interstellar exploration]]. Using current spacecraft technologies, crossing the distance between the Sun and Alpha Centauri would take several millennia, though the possibility of [[nuclear pulse propulsion]] or laser [[light sail]] technology, as considered in the [[Breakthrough Starshot]] program, could make the journey to Alpha Centauri in 20 years.<ref name=NYT-20160412-db>{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/science/alpha-centauri-breakthrough-starshot-yuri-milner-stephen-hawking.html |title=A visionary project aims for Alpha Centauri, a star 4.37 light-years away |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |last=Overbye |first=Dennis |author-link=Dennis Overbye |date=12 April 2016 |access-date=12 April 2016}}</ref><ref>{{cite news |first=Ian |last=O'Neill |date=8 July 2008 |title=How long would it take to travel to the nearest star? |website=[[Universe Today]] |url=http://www.universetoday.com/2008/07/08/how-long-would-it-take-to-travel-to-the-nearest-star}}</ref><ref>{{cite news|url=https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/12/473960826|title=Forget Starships: New Proposal Would Use 'Starchips' To Visit Alpha Centauri|newspaper=NPR |last=Domonoske |first=Camila|date=12 April 2016|access-date=14 April 2016}}</ref> An objective of such a mission would be to make a fly-by of, and possibly photograph, planets that might exist in the system.<ref name="starshot">{{cite web|url=https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Initiative/3|title=Starshot|publisher=Breakthrough Initiatives|access-date=10 January 2017}}</ref><ref name="nytimes20160412">{{cite news |url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/science/alpha-centauri-breakthrough-starshot-yuri-milner-stephen-hawking.html |title=Reaching for the stars, across 4.37 light-years |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |author-link=Dennis Overbye |date=12 April 2016|access-date=10 January 2017}}</ref> The existence of [[Proxima Centauri b]], announced by the [[European Southern Observatory]] (ESO) in August 2016, would be a target for the Starshot program.<ref name="starshot"/><ref name="nytimes20160824">{{cite news|url=https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/science/earth-planet-proxima-centauri.html |archive-url=https://ghostarchive.org/archive/20220101/https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/science/earth-planet-proxima-centauri.html |archive-date=2022-01-01 |url-access=limited|title=One star over, a planet that might be another Earth |newspaper=[[The New York Times]] |first=Kenneth |last=Chang |date=24 August 2016 |access-date=10 January 2017}}{{cbignore}}</ref>

[[NASA]] released a mission concept in 2017 that would [[2069 Alpha Centauri mission|send a spacecraft to Alpha Centauri in 2069]], scheduled to coincide with the 100th anniversary of the first crewed lunar landing in 1969, {{nobr|[[Apollo 11]].}} Even at speed 10% of the [[speed of light]] (about 108&nbsp;million km/h), which NASA experts say may be possible, it would take a spacecraft 44&nbsp;years to reach the constellation, by the year 2113, and would take another 4 years for a signal, by the year&nbsp;2117 to reach Earth. The concept received no further funding or development.<ref>{{cite web |url=https://www.newscientist.com/article/mg23631576-000-exclusive-nasa-has-begun-plans-for-a-2069-interstellar-mission/ |title=NASA has begun plans for a 2069 interstellar mission|work=[[New Scientist]] |publisher=Kingston Acquisitions |last1=Wenz |first1=John |date=19 December 2017|accessdate=August 29, 2022}}</ref><ref>{{cite magazine |url=https://www.newsweek.com/alien-life-alpha-centauri-nasa-wants-find-out-super-fast-2069-mission-752528 |title = Do aliens live at Alpha Centauri? NASA wants to send a mission in 2069 to find Out |magazine=[[Newsweek]] }}</ref>