Breakthrough Starshot

Short description: Interstellar probe project

"Starshot" redirects here. For the clay target, see Starshot (target). For the video game, see Starshot: Space Circus Fever.

File:Press Conference at ESO HQ2.tif

Breakthrough Starshot was a research and engineering project by the Breakthrough Initiatives program to develop a proof-of-concept fleet of light sail interstellar probes named Starchip,[1] to be capable of making the journey to the Alpha Centauri star system 4.34 light-years away. It was founded in 2016 by Yuri Milner, Stephen Hawking, and Mark Zuckerberg.[2][3]

A flyby mission was proposed to Proxima Centauri b, an Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone of its host star, Proxima Centauri, in the Alpha Centauri system.[4] At a speed between 15% and 20% of the speed of light,[5][6][7][8] it would take between 20 and 30 years to complete the journey, and approximately 4 years for a return message from the starship to Earth.

The conceptual principles to enable this interstellar travel project were described in "A Roadmap to Interstellar Flight", by Philip Lubin of UC Santa Barbara.[9][10] Sending the lightweight spacecraft involves a multi-kilometer phased array of beam-steerable lasers with a combined coherent power output of up to 100 GW.[11]

In September 2025, Scientific American reported that the project was on hold indefinitely.[12] Philip Lubin estimates that the project had spent about $4.5 million of the proposed $100 million by this point.

## Contents

* 1 Initial announcement
* 2 Objectives
* 2.1 Target planet
* 3 Concept
* 4 Technical challenges
* 5 StarChip
* 5.1 Components
* 5.1.1 Light sail
* 5.1.2 Laser data transmitter
* 5.2 Orbital insertion
* 5.3 Other applications
* 5.4 AI-optimized light sail
* 6 See also
* 7 References
* 8 External links

## Initial announcement

The project was announced on 12 April 2016 in an event held in New York City by physicist and venture capitalist Yuri Milner, together with cosmologist Stephen Hawking, who was serving as board member of the initiatives. Other board members include Facebook, Inc. (now known as Meta Platforms) CEO Mark Zuckerberg. The project had an initial funding of US$100 million. Milner placed the final mission cost at $5–10 billion, and estimated the first craft could launch by around 2036.[6] Pete Worden is the project's executive director and Harvard Professor Avi Loeb chairs the advisory board for the project.[13]

## Objectives

The Breakthrough Starshot program aimed to demonstrate a proof-of-concept for ultra-fast, light-driven nano-spacecraft, and lay the foundations for a first launch to Alpha Centauri within the next generation.[14] The spacecraft would make a flyby, and possibly photograph, of any Earth-like worlds that might exist in the system. Secondary goals were Solar System exploration and detection of Earth-crossing asteroids.[15]

### Target planet

The European Southern Observatory (ESO) announced the detection of a planet orbiting the third star in the Alpha Centauri system, Proxima Centauri in August 2016.[16][17] The planet, called Proxima Centauri b, orbits within the habitable zone of its star. It could be a target for one of the Breakthrough Initiatives' projects.

In January 2017, Breakthrough Initiatives and the European Southern Observatory began collaborating to search for habitable planets in the nearby star system Alpha Centauri.[18][19] The agreement involves Breakthrough Initiatives providing funding for an upgrade to the VISIR (VLT Imager and Spectrometer for mid-Infrared) instrument on ESO's Very Large Telescope (VLT) in Chile. This upgrade will increase the likelihood of planet detection in the system.

## Concept

A solar sail concept

The Starshot concept envisioned launching a "mothership" carrying about a thousand tiny spacecraft (on the scale of centimeters) to a high-altitude Earth orbit for deployment. A phased array of ground-based lasers would then focus a light beam on the sails of these spacecraft to accelerate them one by one to the target speed within 10 minutes, with an average acceleration on the order of 100 km/s2 (10,000 ɡ), and an illumination energy on the order of 1 TJ delivered to each sail. A preliminary sail model is suggested to have a surface area of 4 m × 4 m.[20][21] An October 2017 presentation of the Starshot system model[22][23] examined circular sails and finds that the beam director capital cost is minimized by having a sail diameter of 5 meters.

The Earth-sized planet Proxima Centauri b is within the Alpha Centauri system's habitable zone. Ideally, the Breakthrough Starshot would aim its spacecraft within one astronomical unit (150 million kilometers or 93 million miles) of that world. From this distance, a craft's cameras could capture an image of high enough resolution to resolve surface features.[24]

The fleet would have about 1000 spacecraft. Each one, called a StarChip, would be a very small centimeter-sized vehicle weighing a few grams.[1] They would be propelled by a square-kilometre array of 10 kW ground-based lasers with a combined output of up to 100 GW.[25][26] A swarm of about 1000 units would compensate for the losses caused by interstellar dust collisions en route to the target.[25][27] In a detailed study in 2016, Thiem Hoang and coauthors[28] found that mitigating the collisions with dust, hydrogen, and galactic cosmic rays may not be as severe an engineering problem as first thought, although it will likely limit the quality of the sensors on board.[29]

## Technical challenges

Light propulsion requires enormous power: a laser with a gigawatt of power (approximately the output of a large nuclear plant) would provide only a few newtons of thrust.[26] The spaceship will compensate for the low thrust by having a mass of only a few grams. The camera, computer, communications laser, a nuclear power source, and the solar sail must be miniaturized to fit within a mass limit.[26][30] All components must be engineered to endure extreme acceleration, cold, vacuum, and interstellar particles such as stray protons.[27] The spacecraft will have to survive collisions with space dust; Starshot expects each square centimeter of frontal cross-section to collide at high speed with about a thousand particles of size at least 0.1 μm.[26][31] Focusing a set of lasers totaling one hundred gigawatts onto the solar sail will be difficult due to atmospheric turbulence, so there is the suggestion to use space-based laser infrastructure.[32] In addition, due to the size of the light sail and distance the light sail will be from the laser at the end of the acceleration, very large coherent combining optics would be required to focus the laser.[33][34] The diffraction limit of the laser light used sets the minimum diameter of the coherently focused laser beam at the source. For example, to accelerate the previously mentioned 4m sail at 10,000Gs to 0.2 c requires combining optics which are approximately 3 kilometers in diameter to focus the laser light on the sail. This could be implemented using a phased array system which is being researched at The University of California Santa Barbara.[35][36] According to The Economist, at least a dozen off-the-shelf technologies will need to improve by orders of magnitude.[26]

## StarChip

StarChip was the name used by Breakthrough Initiatives for a very small, centimeter-sized, gram-scale, interstellar spacecraft envisioned for the Breakthrough Starshot program,[1][37] a proposed mission to propel a fleet of a thousand StarChips on a journey to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system, about 4.37 light-years from Earth.[38][6][39][5][40][41] The ultra-light StarChip robotic nanocraft, fitted with light sails, are planned to travel at speeds of 20%[1][6][39][5] and 15%[5] of the speed of light, taking between 20 and 30 years to reach the star system, respectively, and about 4 years to notify Earth of a successful arrival.[6]

In July 2017, scientists announced that precursors to StarChip, called Sprites, were successfully launched and flown through Polar Satellite Launch Vehicle by ISRO from Satish Dhawan Space Centre.[42] 105 Sprites were also flown to the ISS on the KickSat-2 mission that launched on 17 November 2018, from where they were deployed on 18 March 2019. They successfully transmitted data before reentering the atmosphere and burning up on 21 March.[43][44][45][46]

### Components

Each StarChip nanocraft was expected to carry miniaturized cameras, navigation gear, communication equipment, photon thrusters and a power supply. In addition, each nanocraft would be fitted with a meter-scale light sail, made of lightweight materials, with a gram-scale mass.[1][37][38][6][40][41][47][48] The envisioned technical specifications for the nanocrafts included:

* Five sub-gram scale digital cameras, each with a minimum 2-megapixels resolution[1][49]
* Four sub-gram scale processors[40][50]
* Four sub-gram scale photon thrusters, each minimally capable of performing at a 1W diode laser level[37][51][52]
* A 150 mg atomic battery, powered by plutonium-238 or americium-241[6][41][53]
* A coating, possibly made of beryllium copper, to protect the nanocraft from dust collisions and atomic particle erosion.[41][54]

#### Light sail

The light sail was envisioned to be no larger than 4 by 4 meters (13 by 13 feet),[1][55] possibly of composite graphene-based material.[1][38][6][41][48][56] The material would have to be very thin and be able to reflect the laser beam while absorbing only a small fraction of the incident energy, or it will vaporize the sail.[1][6][57] The light sail was also proposed to double as a power source during cruise, because collisions with atoms of interstellar medium would deliver 60 watt/m2 of power.[53]

#### Laser data transmitter

A laser communicator, utilizing the light sail as the primary reflector, would be capable of data rates of 2.6-15 baud per watt of transmitted power at the distance to Alpha Centauri, assuming a 30 m diameter receiving telescope on Earth.[58]

### Orbital insertion

The Starshot project was a fly-by mission, which pass the target at high velocity. Heller et al.[59] proposed that a photo-gravitational assist could be used to slow such a probe and allow it to enter orbit (using photon pressure in maneuvers similar to aerobraking). This requires a sail that is both much lighter and much larger than the proposed Starshot sail. The table below lists possible target stars for photogravitational assist rendezvous.[59] The travel times are the calculated times for an optimized spacecraft to travel to the star and then enter orbit around the star.

Name | Travel time
(yr) | Distance
(ly) | Luminosity
(L☉)

|
|
|

Proxima Centauri | 121 | 4.2 | 0.00005
α Centauri A | 101.25 | 4.36 | 1.52
α Centauri B | 147.58 | 4.36 | 0.50
Sirius A | TBD | 8.58 | 24.20
Epsilon Eridani | 363.35 | 10.50 | 0.50
Procyon A | 154.06 | 11.44 | 6.94
Altair | 176.67 | 16.69 | 10.70
Vega | 167.39 | 25.02 | 50.05
Fomalhaut A | 221.33 | 25.13 | 16.67
Denebola | 325.56 | 35.78 | 14.66
Castor A | 341.35 | 50.98 | 49.85

* Successive assists at α Cen A and B could allow travel times to 75 yr to both stars.
* The light sail has a nominal mass-to-surface ratio (σnom) of 8.6×10−4 gram m−2 for a nominal graphene-class sail.
* Area of the light sail, about 105 m2 = (316 m)2
* Velocity up to 37,300 km s−1 (12.5% c)

### Other applications

The German physicist Claudius Gros has proposed that the technology of the Breakthrough Starshot initiative may be used in a second step to establish a biosphere of unicellular microbes on otherwise only transiently habitable exoplanets.[60][61] A Genesis probe would travel at lower speeds, at a speed 4.6% of the speed of light, which would take at least 90 years to get to Alpha Centauri A. The sail could be configured so that the stellar pressure from Alpha Centauri A brakes and deflects the probe toward Alpha Centauri B, where it would arrive after a few days. The sail would then be slowed again to 0.4% of the speed of light and catapulted towards Proxima Centauri. At that speed it will arrive there after another 46 years – about 140 years after its launch. It could hence be decelerated using a magnetic sail.[62]

### AI-optimized light sail

In 2025, researchers from Brown University and TU Delft developed a cutting-edge, ultra-thin light sail optimized with artificial intelligence. This light sail, designed for interstellar missions, was only 200 nanometers thick, with a surface covered in billions of nanoscale holes. These microscopic holes reduced weight while significantly increasing reflectivity, making the light sail more efficient for light-driven propulsion. This breakthrough could play a crucial role in advancing interstellar travel, allowing spacecraft to reach distant stars within a human lifetime.[63]

## See also

* Interstellar probe
* Project Dragonfly - Feasibility study of a small laser-propelled interstellar probe
* Engineering:Project Daedalus - 1970s proposal for an interstellar probe
* Project Icarus - 2009 project to update design of Project Daedalus
* Astronomy:Project Longshot - Design for a 400 tonne nuclear pulse propelled uncrewed spacecraft to reach and orbit Alpha Centauri
* Astronomy:2069 Alpha Centauri mission - NASA concept for uncrewed probe - possibly a light sail
* Starlight - UCSB study of fleet of small laser light sail interstellar probes
* Physics:Starwisp - 1985 proposal for microwave sail flyby of a nearby star
* Interstellar travel
* Engineering:Starship
* Astronomy:100 Year Starship - Grant project to work toward achieving interstellar travel

## References

1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 1.4 1.5 1.6 1.7 1.8 Gilster, Paul (12 April 2016). "Breakthrough Starshot: Mission to Alpha Centauri". Centauri Dreams. https://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=35402.
2. ↑ F, Jessica (14 April 2016). "Stephen Hawking, Mark Zuckerberg, Yuri Milner Launch $100M Space Project Called Breakthrough Starshot". Nature World News. https://www.natureworldnews.com/articles/20799/20160414/stephen-hawking-mark-zuckerberg-and-russian-millionaire-yuri-milner-launch-100m-space-project-called-breakthrough-starshot.htm.
3. ↑ Lee, Seung (13 April 2016). "Mark Zuckerberg Launches $100 Million Initiative To Send Tiny Space Probes To Explore Stars". https://www.newsweek.com/mark-zuckerberg-joins-100-million-initiative-send-tiny-space-probes-explore-447513.
4. ↑ Chang, Kenneth (24 August 2016). "One Star Over, a Planet That Might Be Another Earth". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/08/25/science/earth-planet-proxima-centauri.html.
5. ↑ 5.0 5.1 5.2 5.3 Staff (12 April 2016). "Breakthrough Starshot". Breakthrough Initiatives. https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Initiative/3.
6. ↑ 6.0 6.1 6.2 6.3 6.4 6.5 6.6 6.7 6.8 Overbye, Dennis (12 April 2016). "Reaching for the Stars, Across 4.24 Light-Years; A Visionary Project Aims for Alpha Centauri, a Star 4.37 Light-Years Away". The New York Times. https://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/science/alpha-centauri-breakthrough-starshot-yuri-milner-stephen-hawking.html.
7. ↑ Stone, Maddie (12 April 2016). "Stephen Hawking and a Russian Billionaire Want to Build an Interstellar Starship". Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/a-russian-billionaire-and-stephen-hawking-want-to-build-1770467186.
8. ↑ Staff (12 April 2016). "Breakthrough Initiatives – Breakthrough Starshot". Breakthrough Initiatives. https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/About.
9. ↑ Lubin, Philip (2016). "A Roadmap to Interstellar Flight". Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 69: 40. Bibcode: 2016JBIS...69...40L. http://www.jbis.org.uk/paper.php?p=2016.69.40. Retrieved 17 September 2017. (file available at University of California, Santa Barbara here Accessed 16 April 2016)
10. ↑ Hall, Loura (7 May 2015). "DEEP IN Directed Energy Propulsion for Interstellar Exploration". NASA News. http://www.nasa.gov/feature/deep-in-directed-energy-propulsion-for-interstellar-exploration. "NASA is pleased to hear that Professor Lubin has received external funding to continue the work started in his NIAC study."
11. ↑ "Breakthrough Initiatives". https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/concept/3.
12. ↑ Scoles, Sarah (October 2025). "How a Billionaire’s Plan to Reach Another Star Fell Apart". Scientific American 333. https://www.scientificamerican.com/article/the-quiet-demise-of-breakthrough-starshot-a-billionaires-interstellar/.
13. ↑ "Breakthrough Starshot: Management and Advisory Committee". https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/leaders/3.
14. ↑ "Breakthrough Initiatives". https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Initiative/3.
15. ↑ Scharf, Caleb A. (26 April 2016). "Can Starshot Work?". Scientific American Blogs. https://blogs.scientificamerican.com/life-unbounded/can-starshot-work/.
16. ↑ "Planet Found in Habitable Zone Around Nearest Star – Pale Red Dot campaign reveals Earth-mass world in orbit around Proxima Centauri". https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1629/.
17. ↑ Witze, Alexandra (25 August 2016). "Earth-sized planet around nearby star is astronomy dream come true". Nature 536 (7617): 381–382. doi:10.1038/nature.2016.20445. PMID 27558041. Bibcode: 2016Natur.536..381W.
18. ↑ "VLT to Search for Planets in Alpha Centauri System". European Space Observatory (ESO). 9 January 2017. https://www.eso.org/public/news/eso1702/.
19. ↑ "Breakthrough Initiatives". https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/News/8.
20. ↑ Lightsail, Integrity under thrust.
21. ↑ Lightsail | Stability on the beam.
22. ↑ 2\. Breakthrough Starshot System Model, 20 October 2017, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=KIDuXQHt8pk, retrieved 29 October 2017
23. ↑ Parkin, Kevin. "Starshot System Model". https://parkinresearch.com/interstellar/.
24. ↑ "Breakthrough Initiatives". breakthroughinitiatives.org. https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Target/3.
25. ↑ 25.0 25.1 "Breakthrough Starshot: Concept". 12 April 2016. https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Concept/3.
26. ↑ 26.0 26.1 26.2 26.3 26.4 "A new plan to send spacecraft to the stars: replace rockets with lasers". The Economist. 12 April 2016. https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21696876-interstellar-travel-means-thinking-both-very-big-and-very-small-new-plan.
27. ↑ 27.0 27.1 Emspak, Jesse (15 April 2016). "No Breakthrough Yet: Stephen Hawking's Interstellar 'Starshot' Faces Challenges". Space. https://www.space.com/32592-breakthrough-starshot-interstellar-laser-sail-challenges.html.
28. ↑ Hoang; Lazarian, A.; Burkhart, Blakesley; Loeb, Abraham (2017). "The Interaction of Relativistic Spacecrafts with the Interstellar Medium". The Astrophysical Journal 837 (1): 5. doi:10.3847/1538-4357/aa5da6. Bibcode: 2017ApJ...837....5H.
29. ↑ Timmer, John (24 August 2016). "Just how dangerous is it to travel at 20% the speed of light?". Science (Ars Technica). https://arstechnica.com/science/2016/08/could-breakthrough-starshots-ships-survive-the-trip/.
30. ↑ "Potential Challenges for Starshot". Breakthrough Initiatives. https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Challenges/3.
31. ↑ "Interstellar Dust". Breakthrough Initiatives. http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/index.php?controller=Forum&action=viewforum&id=7&page=1.
32. ↑ Andreas M. Hein; Kelvin F. Long; Dan Fries; Nikolaos Perakis; Angelo Genovese; Stefan Zeidler; Martin Langer; Richard Osborne et al. (2017). "The Andromeda Study: A Femto-Spacecraft Mission to Alpha Centauri". Initiative for Interstellar Studies.
33. ↑ Paschotta, Dr Rüdiger (March 2007). "Coherent beam combining". https://www.rp-photonics.com/coherent_beam_combining.html.
34. ↑ "Resolving power". http://labman.phys.utk.edu/phys136core/modules/m9/resolving_power.html.
35. ↑ "Starlight". https://www.deepspace.ucsb.edu/projects/starlight.
36. ↑ Large Scale Directed Energy for Relativistic Flight, 25 August 2023, https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iyUoFwNM9xI, retrieved 2024-01-06
37. ↑ 37.0 37.1 37.2 Greene, Kate (13 April 2016). "What Will Make Interstellar Travel a Reality?". Slate. http://www.slate.com/articles/health_and_science/science/2016/04/an_100_million_investment_might_make_it_possible_to_reach_alpha_centauri.html.
38. ↑ 38.0 38.1 38.2 Clery, Daniel (12 April 2016). "Russian billionaire unveils big plan to build tiny interstellar spacecraft". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aaf4115. https://www.science.org/content/article/russian-billionaire-unveils-big-plan-build-tiny-interstellar-spacecraft. Retrieved 15 April 2016.
39. ↑ 39.0 39.1 Stone, Maddie (12 April 2016). "Stephen Hawking and a Russian Billionaire Want to Build an Interstellar Starship". Gizmodo. https://gizmodo.com/a-russian-billionaire-and-stephen-hawking-want-to-build-1770467186.
40. ↑ 40.0 40.1 40.2 Domonoske, Camila (12 April 2016). "Forget Starships: New Proposal Would Use 'Starchips' To Visit Alpha Centauri". NPR. https://www.npr.org/sections/thetwo-way/2016/04/12/473960826/forget-starships-new-proposal-would-use-starchips-to-visit-alpha-centauri.
41. ↑ 41.0 41.1 41.2 41.3 41.4 Emspak, Jesse (15 April 2016). "No Breakthrough Yet: Stephen Hawking's Interstellar 'Starshot' Faces Challenges". Space.com. https://www.space.com/32592-breakthrough-starshot-interstellar-laser-sail-challenges.html.
42. ↑ Staff (26 July 2017). "In Quest To Reach Alpha Centauri, BreakThrough Starshot Launches World's Smallest Spacecraft – First Prototype 'Sprites' – Precursors to Eventual 'StarChip' Probes – Achieve Low Earth Orbit". BreakThroughInitiatives.org. https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/News/12.
43. ↑ University, Stanford (2019-06-03). "Inexpensive chip-size satellites orbit Earth". https://news.stanford.edu/2019/06/03/chip-size-satellites-orbit-earth/.
44. ↑ Tavares, Frank (2019-05-30). "What is KickSat-2?". http://www.nasa.gov/ames/kicksat.
45. ↑ "Cracker-sized satellites demonstrate new space tech". https://news.cornell.edu/stories/2019/06/cracker-sized-satellites-demonstrate-new-space-tech.
46. ↑ "KickSat-2 project launches 105 cracker-sized satellites". 4 June 2019. https://techcrunch.com/2019/06/04/kicksat-2-project-launches-105-cracker-sized-satellites/.
47. ↑ Staff (12 April 2016). "Breakthrough Starshot: Potential Challenges". Breakthrough Initiatives. https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/Challenges/3.
48. ↑ 48.0 48.1 Staff (16 April 2016). "Starship enterprise". The Economist. https://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21696876-interstellar-travel-means-thinking-both-very-big-and-very-small-new-plan.
49. ↑ Staff (12 April 2016). "Breakthrouth Starshot: Gram-Scale Starchip Components – 4 Cameras". Breakthrough Initiatives. http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/index.php?controller=Forum&action=viewforum&id=18&page=1.
50. ↑ Staff (12 April 2016). "Breakthrouth Starshot: Gram-Scale Starchip Components – 4 Processors". Breakthrough Initiatives. http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/index.php?controller=Forum&action=viewforum&id=19&page=1.
51. ↑ Staff (12 April 2016). "Breakthrouth Starshot: Gram-Scale Starchip Components – 4 Photon Thrusters". Breakthrough Initiatives. http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/index.php?controller=Forum&action=viewforum&id=17&page=1.
52. ↑ Gilster, Paul (21 October 2013). "Laser Travel by Photonic Thruster". Centauri Dreams. https://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=29341.
53. ↑ 53.0 53.1 Staff (12 April 2016). "Breakthrouth Starshot: Gram-Scale Starchip Components – Battery". Breakthrough Initiatives. http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/index.php?controller=Forum&action=viewforum&id=16&page=1.
54. ↑ Staff (12 April 2016). "Breakthrouth Starshot: Gram-Scale Starchip Components – Protective Coating". Breakthrough Initiatives. http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/index.php?controller=Forum&action=viewforum&id=20&page=1.
55. ↑ Staff (12 April 2016). "Breakthrough Starshot: Lightsail, Integrity under thrust". Breakthrough Initiatives. http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/index.php?controller=Forum&action=viewforum&id=5&page=2.
56. ↑ Staff (12 April 2016). "Breakthrouth Starshot: Gram-Scale Starchip Components – Lightsail – Structure". Breakthrough Initiatives. http://breakthroughinitiatives.org/index.php?controller=Forum&action=viewforum&id=21&page=2.
57. ↑ Patel, Neel V. (15 April 2016). "The Starshot Breakthrough Light Beam Is Really a Million Lasers, Which Is Insane". Inverse. https://www.inverse.com/article/14352-the-starshot-breakthrough-light-beam-is-really-a-million-lasers-which-s-insane.
58. ↑ Parkin, Kevin L. G. (2020). "A Starshot Communication Downlink". arXiv:2005.08940 [astro-ph.IM].
59. ↑ 59.0 59.1 Heller, René; Hippke, Michael; Kervella, Pierre (2017). "Optimized trajectories to the nearest stars using lightweight high-velocity photon sails". The Astronomical Journal 154 (3): 115. doi:10.3847/1538-3881/aa813f. Bibcode: 2017AJ....154..115H.
60. ↑ Gros, Claudius (2016), "Developing ecospheres on transiently habitable planets: The genesis project", Astrophysics and Space Science 361 (10), doi:10.1007/s10509-016-2911-0, Bibcode: 2016Ap&SS.361..324G
61. ↑ Boddy, Jessica (2016). "Q&A: Should we seed life on alien worlds?". Science. doi:10.1126/science.aah7285. ISSN 0036-8075.
62. ↑ Romero, James (November 2017). "Should we seed life through the cosmos using laser-driven ships?". New Scientist (3152). https://www.newscientist.com/article/2153165-should-we-seed-life-through-the-cosmos-using-laser-driven-ships.
63. ↑ "Breakthrough Lightsail: Ultra-Thin, AI-Optimized, and Ready to Race to Alpha Centauri". SciTechDaily. 31 March 2025. https://scitechdaily.com/breakthrough-lightsail-ultra-thin-ai-optimized-and-ready-to-race-to-alpha-centauri/.

## External links

* Official website

* v
* t
* e

Astrobiology

Disciplines|

* Astrochemistry
* Astrophysics
* Atmospheric sciences
* Biochemistry
* Evolutionary biology
* Exoplanetology
* Geomicrobiology
* Microbiology
* Paleontology
* Planetary science

Main topics|

* Abiogenesis
* Allan Hills 84001
* Biomolecule
* Biosignature
* Drake equation
* Earliest known life forms
* Earth analog
* Extraterrestrial life
* Extraterrestrial sample curation
* Extremophiles
* Hypothetical types of biochemistry
* List of microorganisms tested in outer space
* Molecules detected in outer space
* Ocean planet
* Origin of life
* Panspermia
* Planetary protection
* Search for extraterrestrial intelligence (SETI)
* Yamato meteorite

Planetary
habitability|

* Habitability of binary star systems
* Habitability of K-type main-sequence star systems
* Habitability of natural satellites
* Habitability of red dwarf systems
* Circumstellar habitable zone
* Earth analog
* List of potentially habitable exoplanets
* Tholin
* Extraterrestrial liquid water
* Galactic habitable zone
* Superhabitable planet

Space
missions|

| Earth orbit|

* BIO
* BIOCORE
* Biolab
* Bion
* BIOPAN
* Biosatellite program
* E-MIST
* ERA
* CROPIS
* EXOSTACK
* EXPOSE
* Lunar Micro Ecosystem
* O/OREOS
* OREOcube
* Tanpopo
* VEGGIE

|

Mars|

* Beagle 2
* ExoMars Trace Gas Orbiter
* Fobos-Grunt
* Mars Science Laboratory
* Curiosity
* Phoenix
* Viking

Comets and
asteroids|

* Hayabusa2
* OSIRIS-REx
* Rosetta

Planned|

* BioSentinel
* Dragonfly
* Europa Clipper
* ExoMars
* Rosalind Franklin rover
* Kazachock lander
* Mars 2020 rover
* HX-1

Proposed|

* CAESAR
* Enceladus Explorer
* Enceladus Life Finder‎
* Enceladus Life Signatures and Habitability
* Europa Lander
* ExoLance
* Explorer of Enceladus and Titan
* Icebreaker Life
* Journey to Enceladus and Titan
* Laplace-P
* Life Investigation For Enceladus
* Mars sample return mission
* Oceanus
* THEO
* Trident

Cancelled and
undeveloped|

* Astrobiology Field Laboratory
* Beagle 3
* Biological Oxidant and Life Detection
* Living Interplanetary Flight Experiment
* Mars Astrobiology Explorer-Cacher
* MELOS
* Northern Light
* Red Dragon
* Terrestrial Planet Finder

Institutions
and programs|

* Astrobiology Society of Britain
* Astrobiology Science and Technology for Exploring Planets
* Breakthrough Initiatives
* Breakthrough Listen
* Breakthrough Message
* Breakthrough Starshot
* Carl Sagan Institute
* Center for Life Detection Science
* European Astrobiology Network Association
* NASA Astrobiology Institute
* Nexus for Exoplanet System Science
* Ocean Worlds Exploration Program
* Spanish Astrobiology Center‎

* Category
* Commons
* Portal: Astronomy
* Biology

* v
* t
* e

The Alpha Centauri system

Stars|

* Rigil Kentaurus (A)
* Toliman (B)
* Proxima Centauri (C)

Planets|

* Alpha Centauri Bb†
* Alpha Centauri Bc
* Proxima Centauri b
* Proxima Centauri c

Proposed missions concepts|

* 2069 Alpha Centauri mission
* AIMStar
* Breakthrough Starshot
* Project Longshot
* Starlight

* Category

0.00

(0 votes)

Original source: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough Starshot. Read more

|

Retrieved from "https://handwiki.org/wiki/index.php?title=Astronomy:Breakthrough_Starshot&oldid=4120657"
*[v]: View this template
*[t]: Discuss this template
*[e]: Edit this template