GLIESE 581c has got to be the ultimate tourist destination. It is the first rocky planet beyond our solar system with anything like a pleasant climate. Imagine How mind-blowing would it be just to stroll along its beaches - surely it must have beaches - or watch the planet's red-dwarf sun setting in a scarlet blaze over the alien landscape. There's just one little problem - Gliese 581c is 20 light years away - over a million times the distance from Earth to the sun. Even at half the speed of light you'd spend the best part of 50 years cooped up in a smelly space capsule.
Shaun Saunders has sent in an article from New Scientist online magazine that explores some of the most interesting and practical methods that could make a trip to the stars closer.
Shaun Saunders has sent in an article from New Scientist online magazine that explores some of the most interesting and practical methods that could make a trip to the stars closer.
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