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need to get small fusion reactors online, then many options blossom.

And work out safe systems for hibernation, maybe rotate the crew in shifts

Oh yeah this is the stuff of science fiction coming to life

Small fusion reactors don't really solve any of the key challenges. You need reaction mass to accelerate, you run out of reaction mass way too quickly even with a magical energy source on board to throw it out the back of the ship really fast.

If we had a probe in orbit around this planet, do we have a way to stream data across 48 light years with any kind of reliability?

Send a lot of them and have them act as relays

why, so they can watch corporate news from earth to get depressed? /s

Actually, it's a great question. Even if we have single photon sensitivity detectors, just what kind of power would a laser need? Or would it be some other area of the emf spectrum? Or some other kind of communication? Sci fi ventures into gravitational waves sometimes

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