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I don’t think there’s anything impossible about it. It’s not going to be easy, sure, or cheap, but every step along the way is feasible and the tech for all of it already exists; it’s even within the realm of affordability for a non-millionaire, when you have half a lifetime to prepare and save towards it.
The “fired off towards Alpha Centauri” bit is the closest thing to impossible. It takes an enormous amount of energy to escape the influence of our sun. It is technically possible, as we’ve done it with the Voyager probes, but there’s no commercial option for it right now. Having remains sent into space is somewhat reasonable, but your destination is effectively impossible most likely.
If you’re wealthy enough, it’s probably an option. You can start your own rocket company and maybe eventually be able to do it, but even most successful rocket companies don’t have the ability to do this yet. SpaceX could, but I have no idea how much mass they could do it with, so it might cost an entire rocket for just this.
I’m aware of the physics involved. You said it was impossible, and you’ve just stumbled on my First Rule of Engineering: vanishingly few goals are actually impossible to achieve, but a great many are too expensive 😉
As to your argument here: the diamond would be very small, and low mass relative to the amount of energy you can muster to expel it. The maths is the hardest part, I think, but the goal itself is just to head off in that direction. Space is big and empty but not as empty as people think; I don’t have any illusions about the chances of actually reaching Alpha Centauri. The symbolism is the point, for us.
I plan on stopping climate change. It’s good to have goals, even impossible ones.
I don’t think there’s anything impossible about it. It’s not going to be easy, sure, or cheap, but every step along the way is feasible and the tech for all of it already exists; it’s even within the realm of affordability for a non-millionaire, when you have half a lifetime to prepare and save towards it.
The “fired off towards Alpha Centauri” bit is the closest thing to impossible. It takes an enormous amount of energy to escape the influence of our sun. It is technically possible, as we’ve done it with the Voyager probes, but there’s no commercial option for it right now. Having remains sent into space is somewhat reasonable, but your destination is effectively impossible most likely.
If you’re wealthy enough, it’s probably an option. You can start your own rocket company and maybe eventually be able to do it, but even most successful rocket companies don’t have the ability to do this yet. SpaceX could, but I have no idea how much mass they could do it with, so it might cost an entire rocket for just this.
I’m aware of the physics involved. You said it was impossible, and you’ve just stumbled on my First Rule of Engineering: vanishingly few goals are actually impossible to achieve, but a great many are too expensive 😉
As to your argument here: the diamond would be very small, and low mass relative to the amount of energy you can muster to expel it. The maths is the hardest part, I think, but the goal itself is just to head off in that direction. Space is big and empty but not as empty as people think; I don’t have any illusions about the chances of actually reaching Alpha Centauri. The symbolism is the point, for us.