When Will Humans Attain Interstellar Space Travel?

Attaining interstellar space travel appears quite impossible to many people. However, most of these people who don’t believe in the future of going interstellar are yet to realize how fast we are progressing as a civilization. We have already sent two spacecraft into the Interstellar space.

Voyager 1, the first humanmade object to leave the solar system traveled beyond the heliopause and flew into interstellar space on Aug. 25, 2012. At that time, the spacecraft was 11 billion miles away from our star. As the world was still celebrating the great milestone attained by the Voyager 1 space probe, Voyager 2 was slowly approaching the edge of our solar system.

On Dec. 10, 2018, NASA’s Voyager 2 spacecraft flew into interstellar space as the second human-made object to reach such a great distance. To this day, only the Voyager 1 and 2 are the only human-made objects that have reached interstellar space.

Since we have achieved uncrewed interstellar missions, the next step will become sending more uncrewed human spacecraft before finally launching astronauts to explore the space between our solar system and other distant stars. Of course, reaching interstellar space is no longer an impossible feat. So the question now is, When will humans attain interstellar space travel? You are about to find out.

What factors will likely determine when humans attain interstellar space travel?

As of 2024, top space agencies like NASA, SpaceX, CNSA, Roscosmos, and many others are focusing on sending humans to the lunar and Martian surface. In fact, no space agency is currently discussing the idea of sending humans beyond Mars for now.

However, even if we are not exploring the idea of interstellar space travel in 2024, it doesn’t mean that humans will never attain such a feat. The journey to explore the deep space is always one step at a time. It took NASA less than a decade to move from developing Saturn V rockets in the early 1960s to landing the first humans on the lunar surface with it in 1969.

As of today, Elon Musk, the founder and CEO of SpaceX is hoping to actualize such a technological feat in sending humans to Mars before 2030s with the Starships. Now, if we must send humans to interstellar space, we have to master the act of sustaining humans during the long space flight to Mars.

Of course, NASA, and its partners have already understood how to sustain astronauts aboard the International Space Station for years. SpaceX will likely deploy the ideas of sustaining astronaut on ISS to protect astronauts during the long duration spaceflight to Mars.

So, our first step towards sending humans to Interstellar space will depend on how fast SpaceX moves to send humans to Mars. On September 22nd, 2024, Elon Musk wrote on his platform, X, saying that the first uncrewed flight to Mars will be coming up in 2026, and if the mission is successful, a crewed mission will be coming up in the next 2 years or will be displayed to the next two years. Hence, the first crewed mission to Mars will likely determine when humans will attain Interstellar space travel.

So, when will humanity attain the first Interstellar space travel?

Humans will not be leaving the solar system anytime soon. This implies that our first attempt to go interstellar may likely be coming up towards the end of this century. Our limitations in advanced space technologies and other factors will play a pivotal role in slowing down our progress to send humans to explore beyond the solar systems soon.

It took both voyagers 1 and 2 more than 3 decades to exit the solar system. Even with today’s space technologies, it will still take any space agency attempting to attain such a milestone, decades to travel out of the solar system.

Hence, humanity will have to build a better propulsion system, actualize artificial gravity, and develop other advanced technologies before thinking of sending humans outside the solar system. The good news is that space agencies like NASA are already developing nuclear propulsion systems, and other advanced systems for uncrewed deep space exploration.

Although NASA is not planning to send humans to Interstellar space, some of its technologies will likely inspire the world to think of exploring the distance between our solar system and other star systems.

If we progress faster in advancing most of our space technologies before the 2050s, we may be attempting another uncrewed mission to explore outside of the solar system in the second half of this century. The success of that mission will determine when space agencies will commence with interstellar space travel.

Three Major Problems Stopping Us From Interstellar Space Travel?

As of 2024, no space agency is thinking of sending any spacecraft to travel beyond our solar system and explore interstellar space. Even NASA which has attained such a feat before is now focusing more on returning humans to the moon, landing humans on Mars, and exploring the moons of the gas and ice giants.

So, what could be the actual problem that is stopping us from attempting interstellar space travel anytime soon? Several challenges are acting as a barrier to traveling beyond our solar system. But we are going to summarize all of them into these three major problems.

Distance

The distance between us and other other planetary systems is absolutely wide. To put things into perspective, the Alpha Centauri Star system is only 4.36 light years from us and will take the Voyager 1 about 77,000 years to reach.

Even with our most advanced spacecraft today, it will still take us thousands of years to travel from Earth to this nearest star system. It doesn’t actually make sense that humans enter their spacecraft and fly to the edge of the solar system and possibly escape the solar system without reaching another star system.

Hence, building an advanced spaceship that will travel much faster than the fastest spacecraft ever built today will be the first key step toward attempting interstellar space travel.

Technological Advancement

Despite the world developing fascinating technologies for deep space exploration, we are still slow in building the actual technologies for interstellar space travel. Many scientists have suggested that building generation ships with advanced propulsion systems, artificial gravity on the inside, vertical farms, and other fascinating technologies will make it possible for humans to attempt interstellar space travel.

People participating in this journey may never return to Earth again. They will not even live to see the new planet. However, their descendants will become the first humans to arrive in the new world. If we must bring this hypothetical idea into reality, space agencies would have to think outside the box.

Scientists aboard the International Space Station are already learning how to grow nature plants in space. They are also conducting other experiments that will surely benefit humans during future deep space missions.

So, if we must build a generational ship for interstellar space travel, it will likely be towards the end of this century or early next century. Some propulsion systems that will push us faster into space include nuclear fusion propulsion, antimatter propulsion, and many others. So, we must master how to use some of these systems in space before attempting to send humans beyond the solar system.

Keeping the Crew Alive

It doesn’t make sense that space agencies would send astronauts into interstellar space without understanding how to sustain them in deep space. Hence, keeping the crew alive will be the primary objective of any space agency willing to attain such a milestone. NASA and its partners have already understood how to sustain astronauts in aboard the ISS for years.

Unlike astronauts aboard the orbital laboratory that receives supplies from Earth, astronauts traveling to Interstellar space will be too far away to receive any supply from Earth. Hence, they will grow their own food and recycle their own water without depending on Earth.

However, space agencies are still struggling to send humans beyond low Earth orbit to distant planets like Mars. However, several solutions have been created to make it possible to sustain humans during long-distance space travel.

Once our kind starts to send humans to Mars and return them safely, we will be approaching a future where we can possibly send humans to the edge of the solar system and also sustain them throughout the mission.

Frequently Asked Questions

Is interstellar space travel possible?

As of today, Interstellar space travel is already possible for uncrewed spacecraft as we have successfully sent Voyager 1 and 2 outside the Solar system. However, sending humans on Interstellar space travel is not possible for now. This is because we still have to solve the problem of deep space communication, radiation shields, artificial gravity, and propulsion systems.

How long before interstellar travel is possible?

Futurists predict that interstellar travel may become possible in the next 100 to 200 years when we must advance technologically to become a space-faring species. However, we still have to advance in our space technologies and master how to sustain humans in deep space.