[ilija139]

Just for reference, the planet is 4.0×10^13 kilometres away, if we send our fastest ever probe, and assume it averages the top speed of 586,800 km/h all the way there, it will still take 7,781 years to reach the planet.

[chadcmulligan]

Under 1g acceleration about 3.5 years

https://www.omnicalculator.com/physics/space-travel

[_fizz_buzz_]

1) you also need time decelerate

2) speed of light is a hard limit, you cannot keep accelerating and you need more energy the closer you get to that limit

[tokai]

> 1) you also need time decelerate

No that would be a waste of effort. A flyby mission definitely makes the most sense. The 3.5 years are with deceleration though.

[empiricus]

You mean flyby at almost the speed of light? For interstellar travel, I think usable flyby speed is almost the same as stop and look around speed.