I volunteer the Clintons and 0 and if the ship ins big enough the whole of the congress to make the trip.

I have been working on interstellar probe studies since the early 70's;

(http://ntrs.nasa.gov/search.jsp?R=198...) I am C. Ivie

The Centauri system was one of our study samples. It is a trinary star system consisting of Alpha Centauri A and B as well as Proxima Centauri. It lies about 4.3 light years away from our solar system and planets have been detected around all three stars.
In our initial studies we realized that propulsion presented a major engineering challenge. We initially considered a high specific impulse ion drive powered by a 10 megawatt breeder reactor. That design could reach a peak velocity of abut 3 percent of the speed of light or 9,000 kilometers per second after about ten years of constant acceleration. If a flyby was intended there would be no need to slow down at the destination so the mission could only make a series of observations of the three star systems.
Subsequent studies included a positron annihilation antimatter reactor which could achieve peak velocities of about 15 percent of light speed. With this system mission times on the order of 60 years became feasible.
Now there is a new concept promoted in part by Stephen Hawking that involves laser powered light sails. In principal this system can achieve velocities approaching 70 percent of light speed in just a few days. So far, none of the studies have identified any fundamental showstoppers but the engineering challenges are enormous. It is conceivable that unmanned exploratory probe missions could be launched toward several of the nearer stars within 10 years. Right now interstellar missions are in the same place as interplanetary missions were in the late 1950's. Now we have sent probes to all of the major planets in the Solar system and have landed on several of them. A powerful influence will be the participation of private companies in the development of the technologies necessary.for truly ambitious and advanced missions. There are a number of companies that are seriously studying asteroid mining which could become a multi trillion dollar enterprise within the next ten to twenty years. I am consulting for one of these. I was involved in the first American artificial satellite, explorer one, and several of the lunar and planetary missions that have flown since. Technology and capability have advanced much more rapidly than any of us could have anticipated in the 60's and 70's. Very exciting stuff.

Not to be a wet blanket on the exciting news, but getting there in our lifetimes??? To get there in 65 years requires an average speed of about 42 million miles per hour. Since the speed must be attained slowly over time (to preserve very limited fuel carried on board) and then reduced slowly over time (to be able to stop at the destination), the top speed would have to be much, much higher.
The fastest terran space craft thusfar had a top speed of 90 thousand mph, so the craft going to Proxima must travel at a velocity more than 500 times faster.
This will require discovery of completely different (much more advanced) transportation technology, or use of the alien craft at area 51.

"A Gulch at last! Anyone up for a road trip?" Are you sure? What if we put in all that effort only to find that the weather is terrible and the resident aliens are all socialists?

The science is so, SO exciting to me. Good find.

If there's and Earth-like planet in the closest known and easiest to observe system, it makes me wonder if they're everywhere. It intensifies the Fermi paradox. In a few generations, people could be eagerly watching the first human set food there four years earlier.

If FTL travel and the ansible are possible, people will be living sci-fi dreams of an interstellar republic.

Cool if true...they don't know if there is water there or if the atmosphere is breathable or not. Power up the Enterprise and we'll go check it out.

My favorite viable interstellar craft would be the Project Orion Vehicle as originally designed by General Atomics. The ablative pusher plate design with massive shock absorber cylinders using 2 kiloton bombs could push the craft at high enough velocities that going to Proxima Centauri is doable. Of course the ship would have to be assembled in low earth orbit. The Upper section could have a ring type of design so the entire ship could be spun on it axis to simulate gravity for the crew. This would be more desireable than tumble the vehicle end over end as originally thought of back in the fifties. For further info: Project Orion by George Dyson, Pub:Henry Holt & Co.2002.

Nickursis , I would never go even if it was plausible. I would drive myself crazy asking if we are there yet.
Thanks for the link .

This sits in a field just outside the security gate at KSC...maybe with a little work? http://www.starznbarz.com/Space-shutt...

If there is a intelligent objectivist life form there wouldn't they consider the Clinton's and Barracula an act of aggression??

While 4+ light years isn't exactly down the block, it is within range of various methods of going there. Just imagine, however, in the myriad of years that it takes to get there humans discover a way to overcome the speed of light and are already there to greet the slowpokes when they finally arrive. Could be the basis for a novel?

beam me up....launch the fleet..

As one of you has already said: finding it is one thing. Getting there is another. The original article mentioned Project Starshot--an attempt to send an automatic probe to the Alpha Centauri ABC system at one-fifth lightspeed. Trip time: twenty years. And how will they manage to stop?

A project like this is so big, we'd sooner fight and win a war of liberation and revolution on Earth than complete this project on our own, with the Grand Looters' Collective interfering at every turn. Ragnar Danneskjöld would need to command a fleet of privateers, similar to Jean Lafitte's fleet in the early nineteenth century, and likely with ten times as many ships as Lafitte had. Three carrier battle groups might do it--and I'm talking about the new Ford class carriers, not the now-obsolete Nimitzes. (The old Big E is already in the boneyard--can't use her.) We'd need Boeing's SeaLaunch ship (if that isn't already in the boneyard, too). And even then, we're better off building a mining colony and factory complex on the far side of the Moon, where we could resurrect the old Nerva program for motive power. Then we jump to Jupiter, long enough to scoop up some hydrogen--wait. You'll need heavy hydrogen. That means landing on the dwarf planet Ceres. I have reason to believe the ices on that and other dwarf planets and large asteroids in the Belt have twice the deuterium, kilo for kilo, as the oceans of Earth.

If we can accomplish all that, then we have the resources to build a generation ship to accelerate to 42 million MPH (at one g), coast along, then reverse heading, brake, and "inject" into the Alpha Centauri C system. Once there, our children find the planet and land. If we can trust the intelligence we have in that article.

If we can get off the ground and make it to the moon, the interference problem vanishes. But I think here's one case where you need Hank Rearden in your community before you can even start.

One thing you'll notice: I haven't said anything about that world already being inhabited. I doubt it would be. That red sun--life would need a yellow sun. Prepare to seed that world from scratch, if the seeds can sprout.