<p>Well, you are not mistaken that travelling at low speeds <strong>you</strong> would never get there.</p>
<p>However, there are moves afoot to send (uncrewed) probes to the nearest stars at significant fractions of the speed of light and to send back pictures to the Earth - (e.g. the <a href="https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3" rel="nofollow noreferrer">Breakthrough Starshot</a> project). In which case, information might be returned to Earth on timescales of 100 years.</p>

CC BY-SA 4.0
2020-09-28T08:35:40.280Z
2020-09-28T11:04:59.633Z
2020-09-28T11:04:59.633Z
ProfRob
<p>Gliese 581 c is described as one of the most promising exoplanets to sustain life. In this New York Times article, Dimitar Sasselov says: &quot;It’s 20 light-years. We can go there.&quot;</p>
<p><a href="https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/science/space/25planet.html" rel="nofollow noreferrer">https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/science/space/25planet.html</a></p>
<p>What does he mean by that?</p>
<p>It would take roughly 40000 years with the fastest thing we've got today if I'm not mistaken?</p>
<p>I do understand that he's not talking about a crewed space mission!</p>

<space-probe>
Going to Gliese 581 c
Björn Andersson
# Going to Gliese 581 c

(Asked by: username_0 on 2020-09-28)

Gliese 581 c is described as one of the most promising exoplanets to sustain life. In this New York Times article, Dimitar Sasselov says: "It’s 20 light-years. We can go there."

<https://www.nytimes.com/2007/04/25/science/space/25planet.html>

What does he mean by that?

It would take roughly 40000 years with the fastest thing we've got today if I'm not mistaken?

I do understand that he's not talking about a crewed space mission!

**Tags:** space-probe

---

## 1 answers

### Answer by username_1 on 2020-09-28. Score: 2 | Accepted answer

Well, you are not mistaken that travelling at low speeds **you** would never get there.

However, there are moves afoot to send (uncrewed) probes to the nearest stars at significant fractions of the speed of light and to send back pictures to the Earth - (e.g. the [Breakthrough Starshot](https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/initiative/3) project). In which case, information might be returned to Earth on timescales of 100 years.


---

