The $100 million plan to get to Alpha Centauri

摘要

Billionaire Yuri Milner has announced the largest-ever investment in interstellar travel: $100 million to research and create prototype spacecraft capable of reaching the nearest star in just 20 years. Forget starships, though. These "waf ersats" would be small enough to fit in your hand, weighing just a few grams. Milner and his scientific advisory team -which includes Stephen Hawking - believe recent developments should make it possible to send thousands of these probes to Alpha Centauri, where they could beam back pictures and scientific data on any planets in orbit.