Could we send a spacecraft to a black hole? This is what a recent study published in iScience hopes to address as a team of researchers investigated the feasibility of sending a spacecraft at the speed of light to study the closest black hole to Earth, which is estimated to be between 20-25 light-years from Earth and wouldn’t occur for a minimum of several decades from now. This study has the potential to help scientists develop next generation spacecraft to help them understand black holes, which remain one of the most mysterious celestial objects in the universe.
For the study, Italian cosmologist Dr. Cosimo Bambi, who is a professor of physics at Fudan University in China and sole author of the study, proposes building a nanocraft weighing approximately 1 gram (0.002 pounds) attached to a light sail estimated to have an area of 10 square meters (108 square feet). The light sail will be powered by a laser emitted from Earth, with Dr. Bambi estimating the former potentially reaching speeds of 90 percent the speed of light. He estimates that even if the nanocraft reaches one-third of the speed of light, it could reach a black hole that is 20-25 light-years away in 60-75 years. However, Dr. Bambi is quick to note that this technology is still decades away.
“It may sound really crazy, and in a sense closer to science fiction,” said Dr. Bambi. “But people said we’d never detect gravitational waves because they’re too weak. We did—100 years later. People thought we’d never observe the shadows of black holes. Now, 50 years later, we have images of two.”
As noted, black holes remain one of the most mysterious objects in the universe, as scientists continue to be puzzled by their formation and evolution. While the consensus is black holes originate from the explosions of massive stars, also called supernovae, their growth and development could involve the consumption of nearby stars.
Will researchers successfully develop a light-speed spacecraft that can study black holes in the coming years and decades? Only time will tell, and this is why we science!
As always, keep doing science & keep looking up!
Sources: iScience, EurekAlert!
Featured Image: One of the first direct images of a black hole. (Credit: Event Horizon Telescope Collaboration)