this post was submitted on 09 Aug 2025
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Maybe we could extend the range of transmission by sending multiple radio relay's in sequence behind the initial probe.
A game of cosmic telephone.
That's a pretty good idea, especially when you consider another problem that needs to be solved by any fast-moving spacecraft: dust.
If a spacecraft hurtling through interstellar space at .3c encounters even a tiny grain of dust, the energy released by the collision is going to be enormous β more than enough to destroy the ship entirely. So far, the best strategy anyone has come up with to mitigate this risk is to just... send a shitload of probes all at once. Basically shotgun blast tiny craft at the sky in hopes that at least one of them makes it to the final destination unscathed.
I imagine it wouldn't be too hard to modify this strategy and stagger the launch times somewhat to create more of a 'caravan' of probes that could also double as a signal relay.
I thought that was the whole point of starshot (and similar). Sending multiple little crafts to act as relays and backups. Also because we can't slow down at the destination. So we'd have multiple fly-bys to get more data.
Wouldn't the trajectory from here to a single blackhole be so tight β like < 1 degree of the night sky β that if any probe were to vapourize at 10% the speed of light, the dust debris would likely destroy any craft that follows behind it, even if it were months behind?
I also remember reading about the theorized micro black holes. The fraction of a millimeter in diameter to quantum scale. If we were somehow able to create a process to reliably produce holes of micro size we might be able to send a small probe into one.
I keep coming back to this whole endeavor might be pointless as not even light can escape, how would we retrieve any information? Even if we somehow were able to get some info how could we guarantee the information is in a complete state? Maybe a lazer broadcast of info till right before the event horizon if the probe was strong enough to withstand the gravitational extremes. We might just get an understanding of how close probe x could get before destruction.
I guess if we could consistently reproduce black holes we could send enough probes to retrieve enough information in parts to understand more than we do.