Some of the first spacecraft that humanity sends to other solar systems may carry microscopic ambassadors from Earth.
The $100 million Breakthrough Starshot initiative is working to develop the technology required to accelerate tiny, sail-equipped probes to 20 percent the speed of light, using powerful lasers.
If everything goes well, large fleets of these 1-gram spacecraft could begin launching toward Proxima b and other nearby alien worlds within 20 years or so, project representatives have said. The probes would characterize these planets in detail and search for signs of life, but some could perform other work as well. [Breakthrough Starshot in Pictures: Laser-Sailing Nanocraft to Study Alien Planets]
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