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Stellar and interstellar precursor missions

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Future Spacecraft Propulsion Systems

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Abstract

Staggering as they may seem to us, interplanetary distances are puny compared to those to reach stars. Our Solar System is located about two-thirds of the way from the center of our Galaxy towards the rim—about 25,000 light-years from the galactic centre, on the inner edge of the Orion arm. Our Galaxy has a diameter of approximately 100,000 light-years and is roughly shaped as a luminous disk 12,000 light-years thick near its hub, decreasing to about 1,000 light-years near the rim of its “arms”. The presence of a black hole of mass corresponding to 2 to 3 million Sun masses, and long believed to be at its center [Cohen et al., 2003], seems confirmed by recent radiowave measurements using very long baseline interferometry [Reynolds, 2008].

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(2009). Stellar and interstellar precursor missions. In: Future Spacecraft Propulsion Systems. Springer Praxis Books. Springer, Berlin, Heidelberg. https://doi.org/10.1007/978-3-540-88814-7_9

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