- Researchers say small, Earth-like planets may be common in Alpha Centauri
- The system was thought to host larger planets that could alter the orbit of others
- But, new study has ruled out the existence of many these Jupiter-sized worlds
- Experts say there could be Earth-like planets around all three stars in the system
It is our nearest star system - and holds huge potential for find life.
Now, a NASA team has revealed it has started planning for a mission to Alpha Centauri - and hope it could blast off on the 100th anniversary of Apollo 11 in 2069.
However, there is one slight issue - the team say most of the technology they need to get there doesn't exist yet.
The JPL team has not yet worked out how to power the craft - and many of their ideas rely on technology that doesn't yet exist, such as this laser sail being developed by the Breakthrough project, which hopes to make to same trip to Alpha Centairi.
'It's very nebulous,' Anthony Freeman at JPL, who presented the mission concept at the 2017 American Geophysical Union conference in New Orleans, Louisiana, on 12 December, told New Scientist.
A 2016 US funding bill told NASA to study interstellar travel that could reach at least 10 per cent of the speed of light by 2069.
It also directed the agency to launch a mission to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to ours.
Currently only one human-made spacecraft has left our solar system—Voyager 1, which launched 40 years ago and is currently traveling at about 38,000 miles per hour, less than 1 percent of 1 percent of the speed of light.
The team say the probe's primary goal will be to determine whether life is present.
It will scan for artificial structures, lights going on and off, and large-scale land modification.
However, the team still has to work out how to get the probe there.
Alpha Centauri is 4.4 light-years away, or nearly 40 trillion kilometers - and the fastest spacecraft so far launched into space, the NASA-Germany Helios probes, traveled at 250,000 kilometers per hour.
At that speed, it would take the probes 18,000 years to reach the nearest star to the sun.
To get there spacecraft will need to travel a substantial fraction of light-speed—10% would get a craft to Alpha Centauri in 44 years.
To do this, researchers are investigating a range of technologies, from laser powered 'light sails' to advanced nuclear propulsion systems, including one called a Bussard ramjet, which uses electromagnetic fields to scoop up hydrogen from the interstellar medium as it travels along, compressing it sufficiently for nuclear fusion to occur, providing thrust to drive the craft forward.
For light sails, a ground-based light beamer would push ultra-light nanocrafts – miniature space probes attached to lightsails – to speeds of up to 100 million miles an hour - a technolgoy also being developed by the Breakthrough project.
Our solar system's nearest neighbour could be home to small, rocky planets much like Earth, according to a new study. The new understanding could help to narrow down the search for habitable worlds just 4.4 light years away. An artist's impression is pictured
The JPL group has already drafted science goals for the mission, including studying the make-up of the matter and radiation it encounters, and testing general relativity on the way.
It will first make observations of the planetary system, the atmosphere and landscape of the target exoplanet.
'We'll be able to characterise the atmosphere. We'll be able to see the planet, assuming it's not covered in clouds,' JPL's Stacy Weinstein-Weiss, lead author of the paper outlining the concept, told New Scientist.
The current plan calls for NASA to send a large telescope to deep space were it would position itself so that light from Alpha Centauri grazes our sun, using a technique called gravitational lensing can give us a full view of the exoplanet.
NASA is also considering targets other than Alpha Centauri.
However, recent research has said our solar system's nearest neighbour could be home to small, rocky planets much like Earth, according to a new study.
A new analysis of the nearby Alpha Centauri system has revealed there may not be as many larger planets orbiting the two main stars as previously thought – instead, small, Earth-like planets are likely the most common kind.
According to the researchers, the new understanding could help to narrow down the search for habitable worlds just 4.4 light years away.
Alpha Centauri sits just 24.9 trillion miles, or about 4.4 billion light-years, and is the closest solar system to our own. It's home to three stars: Centauri A, Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri. An artist's impression is pictured
The new study led by a team of Yale astronomers rules out the existence of a number of larger planets in the system.
While these larger planets were previously predicted in other models, data from more advanced spectrographic instruments suggests a different scenario may be at play.
'The universe has told us the most common types of planets are small planets, and our study shows these are exactly the ones that are most likely to be orbiting Alpha Centauri A and B,' said leading exoplanet researcher, Professor Debra Fischer.
Alpha Centauri sits just 24.9 trillion miles away, or about 4.4 billion light-years, and is the closest solar system to our own.
It's home to three stars: Centauri A, Centauri B, and Proxima Centauri.
And, just last year, scientists revealed they'd spotted an Earth-like planet circling Proxima Centauri.