Reaching for the stars: How lasers could propel spacecraft to relativistic speeds

How do you send man-made probes to a nearby star? According to NASA-funded research at the University of California, Santa Barbara (UCSB), the answer is simple: assemble a laser array the size of Manhattan in low Earth orbit, and use it to push tiny probes to 26 percent the speed of light. Though the endeavour may raise a few eyebrows, it relies on well-established science – and recent technological breakthroughs have put it within our reach.

Clever, but in a desperate kind of Rube Goldbergish way. It is certainly viable for inner solar system travel. But I don't think that's how IT IS BEING DONE for interstellar travel. And this laser propulsion scheme doesn't address the vital question of how any long distance human manned mission would get back. Building a huge laser infrastructure far from Earth is certainly out of the question at this point in our scientific and technological evolution. To read more, click here.