Only a few decades ago it seemed impractical to send humans into space. then there was Yuri Gagarin And Neil Armstrong Keep feet on the moon, Until a few years ago, this dream still seemed inaccessible to the common people. and Virgin Galactic was and SpaceX, Today, some are even beginning to wonder how life can soon leave its cradle. solar system. “I think it’s our destiny to keep searching”, a. underlines in sent Joel Rothman, from the University of California at Santa Barbara (United States), is a co-author of a publication on the subject. Astronaut Act Review,

So, will life soon fly to the stars? ” Why not “, say researchers today. But it would probably be, first of all, very small creatures in the spacecraft, they would also be very small. Because we can’t hide it. Chemical-powered ships will take a long time to reach the stars. Voyager missions have only taken 40 years to reach boundaries of our solar system, And it will take no less than 80,000 years for them to reach the nearest stars.

This is how researchers at the University of California are working to develop the miniature probe – star chips, as engineers already call them – no more than a gram, still equipped with the necessary equipment to locate, collect and transmit data to Earth. But most of all, about 30% . inspired to speed of light using a laser beam. These craft can reach relative speed and travel up to Poxima Centauri… in just twenty years! And they might be able to move some small, live radiation-resistant animals there. From tardigrades,

Technical … and ethical questions

Researchers estimate that thousands of these creatures could be kept dormant on the interstellar craft and awakened after reaching the target. With the possibility for scientists to learn more about the effects of interstellar travel About Life. “We can study the extent to which tardigrades remember and examine the behavior they learned on Earth after moving away from their home planet at the speed of light. metabolismTheir physiology, their neurological function, their reproduction and their aging. Because most of the experiments that can be done on these animals in the laboratory can be done on StarChips as they travel across the universe”, assure Joel Rothman.

The purpose of understanding the potential effects of interstellar travel on humans certainly remains. Even if this dream does not come true immediately. and that until “We may have created more suitable forms of life or hybrid More resistant person-machine. ,

Researchers do not shy away from ethical questions associated with a particular type of work. Some already believe that life can be brought to Earth comet, Or even, voluntarily, a . By extraterrestrial civilization, So considering sending life forms to other stars – if only tardigrades – naturally raises questions. And for some even more general questions. do we only have ” Correct “ to send into space, micro-organisms Who didn’t ask for anything? Or send humans later to destinations from which they may never return? The ethical questions are perhaps as interesting as the scientific questions that accompany them…