Page:Project Longshot - Advanced Design Program Project Report.pdf/10

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2.1 Objective Star System
The star system chosen as our objective system for this mission is the Alpha Centauri trinary star system. There are three main reasons for choosing this system as the destination of the probe: (1) the system's proximity to our solar system; (2) the scientific interest of a trinary system; (3) sending a probe to this star system provides an opportunity to make great advances in the field of astrometry.

One of the main concerns regarding the success of the mission is the ability of the probe to be in good working order when it reaches the objective system. While any interstellar mission will require transit time in excess of a century, the Alpha Centauri system is the closest to our own, and thus provides the best opportunity to deliver a functional probe to another star system.

While it would be a great achievement to do a close-up study of any other star system, the Alpha Centauri system promises to be a a particularly interesting objective. Alpha and Beta Centauri, which are type G2V and dK1 stars, respectively, orbit each other with a separation of 11 to 35 AU. The third star of the system, Proxima Centauri, orbits the other pair