Nonprofit plans to launch 80,000-year probe to Alpha Centauri by 2029

(NewsNation) — The nonprofit Fermi Explorer wants to send a small, solar-powered spacecraft to another star system by 2029.

The target is Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our Sun, 4.4 light-years away. Fermi projects the trip would take a minimum of 80,000 years and cost just under $15 million, a rather meager budget for an interstellar space mission.

“None of us will be here when this journey ends, and that is the point," Fermi Explorer Mission co-found Philip Johnston said. "It's about taking the first achievable step and inspiring future generations to keep pushing beyond the limits we inherited."

The mission's trajectory was planned out with the assistance of an AI system built by the Bill Gates-backed Physical Superintelligence research lab. It determined that Fermi's spacecraft could save energy — and money — by first swinging by our Sun to fuel up on energy and pick up speed to take it out on the rest of its journey.

Why is Fermi Explorer Mission going to Alpha Centauri and not a closer star?

Proxima Centauri is technically the closest star to our solar system, but it's a red dwarf and doesn't give off as much energy as our Sun. Alpha Centauri is more like our own Sun, making it appealing for future exploration.

"We chose Alpha Centauri since we believe that future humans and intelligences will be more interested in setting up a base there," the nonprofit wrote on its website.

Hasn't this been tried before?

A similar $100 million idea called Breakthrough Starshot, announced in 2016, proposed using lasers to push tiny probes toward Alpha Centauri at about 20% of the speed of light. The probes would reach the star system in around 20 years, allowing people alive today to see the results. But a decade later, nothing has launched.

Fermi Explorer's team says it's using preexisting technology for its spacecraft rather than inventing new technology, and accepting a much longer journey as a result.

Is this a serious mission?

Fermi Explorer's organizers are upfront that new spacecraft succeed only about half the time. But they also say they already have a promising proposal from an experienced satellite builder to make the mission happen.

Because the spacecraft will be small and won't carry a big communications antenna, it will lose contact with Earth fairly soon after leaving the solar system, in 2043. From that point on, almost the entire 80,000-year journey will happen with no one able to check in on it.

The spacecraft is intended to carry a collection of scientific instruments, artwork, personal messages and a copy of NASA's "Golden Record" for any future beings to discover. The nonprofit plans to accept proposals from the public.

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