NASA is funding a development that will allow it to leave the solar system in five years - the Voyager 1 took 35 years to do so

The National Aeronautics and Space Administration (NASA) has awarded a grant to scientists at the University of California, Los Angeles. The specialists will develop an engine that will allow the rocket to fly seven times faster than the Voyager-1 probe.

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The scientists, led by Artur Davoyan, have been awarded $175,000. At the start of the project, they will have to prove the feasibility of their concept. They will do this by modelling the engine subsystems and carrying out experimental studies.

In order for a 1,000-kg spacecraft to reach a speed of 120 kilometres an hour, it needs a 10-megawatt laser, which will be in orbit. It will interact with the propulsion system more strongly than photons, which have no mass.

The ship is expected to be able to travel 100 astronomical units (1,495,978,700 km) away from Earth in 3 years after launch. After 5 years, the spacecraft will be able to leave the solar system. It took Voyager 1 35 years to leave our star system.