How far if possible are we from interstellar travel?

You think we will go to other stars in the next 30 years?

Even though we haven't gone to Mars yet, last time we've been to the Moon was 1972 and we've visited some of the planets only once or twice with quick flybys?

That's outrageously optimistic in fairness.

Add another zero to that number and that number is close to how long the journey itself would take given current technology.

There's really only so much acceleration you can achieve by slingshotting around the Solar System before you depart on the journey. Other technology like solar sails and ion drives are untested and aren't significantly faster in any case.

I'm ruling out faster than light travel for obvious reasons. That's pure sci-fi.

/r/AskPhysics Thread Parent