PV Gap

Julie Said:

Can we send satellites out of the solar system to other solar systems?

We Answered:

Yes, but it's not worthwhile. We sent out the Pioneer 10 and 11 probes (launched around 1972) and the Voyager 1 and 2 probes (launched in 1977) and they are leaving the solar system. At the speed they're going at, they should reach the next solar system in about 40,000 years, and no one in the original programs is likely to be alive then to analyze the data.

The distances between stars are HUGE. We can make probes that will travel faster, but it will still take most of a human lifetime just to reach the nearest one, and to travel fast enough to get there that soon, it is likely to be moving too fast to be able to stop (or enter orbit) when it gets to that system.