Possible interstellar destination for Project Orion

Previously, I talked about Projects Daedalus and Icarus from which Orion borrows from for its rebirth.  This time I will talk about possible target star systems for an Orion interstellar mission and will focus on nearby stars.  Plus today is the 540th birthday of the Polish cleric/astronomer known as  Nicholas Copernicus who started what would be known as the Copernican Revolution.   Copernicus made the daring proposition that the Earth was one of the planets and that it orbited the sun and that is what really launched the Copernican Revolution.  Finding a habitable planet around another star similar to Earth is the holy grail to astronomy and the pinocle of the Copernican Revolution.  it is only appropriate to write this particular post about possible destinations for the refit Orion Starship on the birthday of the man who started the revolution that leads to discovery of planets around other stars in his honor.

Nicholas Copernicus (February 19, 1473-May 24, 1543)

The most likely destination for Project Orion is Alpha Centauri (a.k.a. Rigel Kentaurus, Rigel Kent, Toliman, or Bungula) which is only 4.37 light-years away and the nearest star system to us.  There is hope that there are Earth-like planets in the habitable zone around either of the two stars.  So far; only one planet has been detected in the Alpha Centauri star system, Alpha Centauri Bb.  Unfortunately, Alpha Centauri Bb too close to its star; Alpha Centauri B, to support life.  Hopefully there will be discoveries in the near future of earth-like planets orbiting in the habitable zone of either Alpha Centauri A or B.

Another candidate for an Orion mission is Epsilon Eridani which is 10.5 light-years away and has a few gas giants orbiting it.  Epsilon Eridani B is a gas giant in a highly elliptical orbit which at closest approach is still farther out form its star than the habitable zone of that star is.  There is possibility of Titan-like moons around Epsilon Eridani B with the molecules of life.  To be frank Epsilon Eridani is only 800 million years old and is too young to harbor any intelligent or complex life and life there at best is primitive.

Another option is Tau Ceti 11.9 light-years away.  Tau Ceti (a.k.a. Durre Menthor), like Alpha Centauri, is yet another candidate for complex life and intelligent life.  There is now possibility of a few planets orbiting Tau Ceti as I read recently on the Tau Zero Foundation's Centauri Dreams.  According to the linked Centauri Dreams Article on five planet candidates around tau Ceti, one of the candidates is in the habitable zone.  In fact Tau Ceti e and f both orbit within the star's habitable zone if they exist.

Who knows what life we may find on the planets of the nearby stars.  In the next post I will talk about scientific speculations of what alien life might look like with a Star Wars eel as a possibility of life around the nearby stars instead of in a galaxy far, far away.