One may remember Stephen Hawking’s plan to blast tiny spacecraft through the galaxy for deep space missions. The plan may have inspired NASA, who might use the same laser system to launch human missions to Mars, protecting Earth from dangerous asteroids, space junk and that mysterious alien humanoid hanging around the red planet.
NASA BREAKS THROUGH SPACE WITH LASERS
Last month, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking, along with other researchers released Breakthrough Starshot. This $100 million project hopes to build light propelled spacecraft that will reach the nearby Alpha Centauri system in just 20 years. Breakthrough Starshot is a breakthrough idea and one that NASA wants to implement on their own manned missions to Mars and beyond. In the past, NASA’s conventionally powered Voyager 1 took 40 years to travel 12.5 billion miles. If it were to reach Alpha Centauri, it would take another 100,000 years. One can see the importance of Breakthrough Starshot but its use goes far beyond just speed.
MARS COULD BENEFIT FROM LASER SAIL TECH
Mars is undoubtfully the main goal of NASA at the moment. With chemical thrusters, they could get people to Mars in eight months but with the laser-sail system, that time could be cut down to days or weeks. Besides speed, the powerful laser array could also help redirect dangerous asteroids and comets coming towards Earth. This would be done by vaporizing the material on their surfaces and thus changing the orbits slightly. In a more science-fiction inspired reality, the lasers could also be used to defeat the supposed alien humanoid on Mars.
IS ALIEN HUMANOID A THREAT TO EARTH?
NASA has neither confirmed nor denied the alien humanoid said to exist on the red planet. According to some alien hunters, the agency has mistakingly captured footage of the humanoid walking around the surface. Whether it’s dangerous, or even real, is yet to be seen. If the agency does know about it, however, it would explain their haste to go explore the planet, either making peace with the alien humanoid or using its new laser technology to destroy it entirely. Whatever happens, it’s safe to say the government will put a positive spin on it one way or another.
