Interstellar exploration is a significant part of space exploration that will reveal the secrets of the cosmos. Adding to it, human travel to interstellar space would be an epoch-making event as it would present countless possibilities. While the spaceships to allow such visits don’t exist yet, there might be no need for them. An astrophysicist has envisioned the use of a ‘stellar engine’ that will turn our solar system into a spaceship!

A video by the YouTube channel ‘Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell’ explored the concept of stellar engines' theoretical thrusters with the ability to propel the Sun and with it the entire solar system. The video explained the working of this cosmic megastructure with the help of The Shadakov Thruster, presented by physicist Leonid Shkadov. The concept is similar to the LightSail spacecraft, but in this case, it would mean using the Sun’s energy to move the Sun.

The passive solar sail system would be astronomically slow, as explained in the video: “At full throttle, the solar system could probably be moved by about a hundred light-years over 230 million years.” The content creator asked an astrophysicist if it was possible to go faster, which led to a paper describing the design considerations to maximize the acceleration of the stellar engine. A new stellar engine has been described by Matthew Caplan from Illinois State University.

For the video, the astrophysicist came up with an active engine based on a theoretical method of space propulsion: Bussard ramjet. The engine would utilize matter from the Sun as fuel in thermonuclear fusion reactors that would then release a jet of oxygen particles at about 1% the speed of light, out of the solar system. A second jet would release hydrogen from a particle accelerator to push the Sun forward and to balance the force from the first jet so the engine doesn’t crash into the ball of fire.

Dubbed by the YouTube channel as the Caplan Thruster, the stellar engine can push the solar system over a distance of 50 light-years in about a million years.

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Image Credit: Kurzgesagt – In a Nutshell(YouTube)