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The nearest stellar system, the Alpha Centauri three star system, is located at about 4.40 light-years away. This amounts to 278,261AU. But at only 550AU, or, more generally, at only about 1000AU, the focus of the gravitational lens of the Sun is found, that is then 278 times closer than our nearest interstellar target. In other words, assuming equal engineering problems, the trip to the Sun focus...
This paper presents a 2009 status review of the “FOCAL” space mission studied by this author and others since 1992 and formally proposed to ESA for consideration after the year 2000.The FOCAL probe is intended to reach distances between 550 and 1000AU to exploit the huge radio magnification provided there by the gravitational lens of the Sun, as predicted by the general theory of relativity. However,...
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