What is the most efficient way to explore our nearest stars?

In 1903, the Wright brothers achieved the first successful self-propelled flight. They have gone down in history, laying the foundation for transatlantic flight, supersonic flight and even the exploration of the solar system. Now we’re on the verge of interstellar travel, but amid so many ideas and theories, what is the final and most efficient way to explore our nearest stellar neighbors? After all, there are 10,000 stars in a region 110 light-years from Earth, so there are plenty to choose from.

It’s not just the stars that draw us to explore beyond our solar system. Since the discovery of the first exoplanet in 1992, we have discovered more and more alien worlds around distant stars. The total number of confirmed exoplanets now exceeds 5,500, and they demand our attention as we explore the stars. Many ideas and technologies have been proposed over the past few years, but even Proxima Centauri (the closest star system to us) remains out of reach so far.

In his recently published paper, lead author Johannes Lebert of the Technical University of Munich (TUM) tried to develop a strategy based on existing interstellar probe concepts and knowledge of nearby star systems. Lebert is motivated by the rapid discovery of exoplanets and the commercial and technological development and interest in interstellar probes. Not only does he explore technology, but he also focuses on giving back.

In the strategy developed in the paper, he focused on two main goals: mission duration and reward. By rewards he means the sum of all rewards provided by the stars explored during the mission, which is of course largely scientific. He considers a multi-vehicle approach using multiple probes that would not return to Earth and would be able to explore different stars to maximize mission returns. Finally, he explores the routes for such missions to ensure maximum mission rewards. In short, he calls this the bi-objective multi-vehicle open path problem with profit.

The paper finally puts forward some suggestions. First, using efficient routing around the star allows the use of a more limited number of detectors, thus limiting fuel cost reductions. This should be balanced by mission rewards, which would increase faster if more detectors were used to explore the same number of stars simultaneously. However, this does increase mission costs due to increased fuel costs. Whichever strategy is adopted, small remotely operated or autonomous aerial vehicles are more suitable for the needs.

Liebert went on to explain that a greater number of detectors also comes with the benefit of being able to customize the detectors to fit the star systems they are destined to explore. Unlike a smaller number of probes, the number of probes must accommodate a larger range of systems. There’s a concept called the Derived Scaling Law, which clarifies that higher probe counts do carry the risk of less efficient deployments.

It’s an interesting read and reminds us that when we were developing probes, there were quite a few probes on the drawing board; Breakthrough Starshot, Star Express, Interstellar Probes, Innovative Interstellar Explorers, T’au Mission, and more etc., we do need to consider how to plan, manage and deploy to maximize scientific gains.

Source: Best Strategies for Exploring Nearby Stars