Alpha Centuri is where that possible Earth like planet was just discovered.
1. Project Orion in the 1950s hypothesized using nuclear explosions to power a interstellar vessel. The theoretical speed limit of a fusion powered vessel is 10% of the speed of light. At that speed the ~4.7 light years to Alpha Centuri would take 47 years. Such a ship would cost $369 Billion. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_(nuclear_propulsion)
2. To sustain full genetic diversity of the human race we would need to send ~40k people. http://www.popularmechanics.com/space/deep-space/a10369/how-many-people-does-it-take-to-colonize-another-star-system-16654747/
3. Cruise ships can carry about 5,000 people. So, we would only need 10 of them to carry ~40k people.
4. Cruise ships cost ~$1.5 billion. https://www.quora.com/How-much-does-it-cost-to-purchase-a-cruise-ship
5. If we were to build cruise ships in space, lets assume they’re 100x more expensive. Thats ~$150 billion a piece or $1.5 Trillion for 10.
6. Lets assume that each of those would need to have a project Orion type drive integrated at the full cost of a project orion vessel. So lets add $369 Billion to each. So they’re now $519 Billion a piece. Or $5.19 trillion for 10.
7. So it would cost $5.19 trillion to send $40,000 people to Alpha Centuri. Give or take a few trillion. Thats only 30% of US GNP in one year.
Even if those calculations are too low by an order of magnitude the point stands.
If it was a national priority (world is ending or other reason), we could send 40,000 people to Alpha Centuri.
It wouldn’t even be that expensive.
^Day 41/90 276 words
Konrad Kopczynski 