Breakthrough Starshot

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…

4 months ago

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…

7 months ago

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…

8 months ago

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…

9 months ago

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…

10 months ago

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…

11 months ago

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…

1 year ago

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…

2 years ago

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…

3 years ago

Lasers Could Send Missions to Mars in Only 45 Days

New research from McGill University shows that a powerful laser array could propel a fusion-engine spacecraft to Mars in a…

3 years ago