Breakthrough Starshot
What Should Light Sails Be Made Out Of?
The Breakthrough Starshot program aims to cross the immense distances to the nearest star in just decades. Using a high-powered…
A Concentrated Beam of Particles and Photons Could Push Us to Proxima Centauri
Getting to Proxima Centauri b will take a lot of new technologies, but there are increasingly exciting reasons to do…
What’s the Most Effective Way to Explore our Nearest Stars?
It was 1903 that the Wright brothers made the first successful self-propelled flight. Launching themselves to history, they set the…
Starshot … Not? Get a Reality Check on the Search for Alien Civilizations
Fortunately, the real-world search for signs of extraterrestrial civilizations doesn’t have to deal with an alien armada like the one…
Ground-Based Lasers Could Accelerate Spacecraft to Other Stars
The future of space exploration includes some rather ambitious plans to send missions farther from Earth than ever before. Beyond…
NASA Selects Bold Proposal to “Swarm” Proxima Centauri with Tiny Probes
Humans have dreamed about traveling to other star systems and setting foot on alien worlds for generations. To put it…
Communicating With a Relativistic Spacecraft Gets Pretty Weird
Someday, in the not-too-distant future, humans may send robotic probes to explore nearby star systems. These robot explorers will likely…
Tiny Swarming Spacecraft Could Establish Communications with Proxima Centauri
New research from the Institute for Interstellar Studies explains how swarms of thousands of tiny spacecraft could maintain communications with…
Lightweight Picogram-Scale Probes Could be the Best way to Explore Other Star Systems
Inspiration for space exploration can come from all corners. One of the most inspiring, or terrifying, sources of inspiration for…
Laser-Powered Sails Would be Great for Exploring the Solar System too
A new study from UCLA shows how laser-driven light sails could be a cost-effective method for exploring the Solar System…