Can Stephen Hawking and some famous investors get us to the Centauri system?

Although Hawking has expressed concern about the consequences of alien contact, he nevertheless has thrown his support behind Starshot. The near-future project wouldn’t take us to Alpha Centauri, but would use laser tech and light-sails to send iPhone-sized ships to our stellar neighbor.

With investments from Yuri Milner and Mark Zuckerberg, among others, we just might send the ships and receive the results within our lifetime.

3 replies on “Can Stephen Hawking and some famous investors get us to the Centauri system?”

  1. Granted I haven’t watched the videos or read the full stories, but from what I have read, the propulsion sounds promising though I have no idea what they are planning to do for long range communications from a craft that small. Lasers? Quantum Entanglement? Ansible?

    • Good question. Although we’re assured the technology for this project exists or soon will, they do stress “significant engineering challenges” that remain.

      • That’s what led to my QE name drop. Technically it “exists” but using it in this way isn’t possible yet as far as I’ve heard. Pesky problems to solve like violating fundamental laws of physics.

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