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Questions tagged [breakthrough-starshot]

6 votes
1 answer
128 views

Breakthrough initiatives : Gram size camera progress

Looking at this site, are there any interesting activities going on miniaturizing cameras? Is the research stalling? The papers here are at least 8 years old. Besides Avi Loeb any other prominent ...
Gopal Anantharaman's user avatar
3 votes
1 answer
241 views

Small probes to Alpha Centauri powered by light sails with a journey time of 20 years

This news item states that scientists have potentially devised a way to send a number of small probes to Alpha Centauri at quarter the speed of light. The journey would take 20 years and each small ...
Fred's user avatar
  • 13.1k
2 votes
0 answers
39 views

Detecting light leakage from starshot-like probe

Would we be able to detect the light "leaking" around a light sail, from a startshot like probe, which is launched from a nearby star system towards Earth?
fibonatic's user avatar
  • 707
6 votes
0 answers
81 views

Could Breakthrough Starshot be used to deflect asteroids and comets?

Would Breakthrough Starshot be able to deflect an asteroid or comet? I have seen thoughts about using the lasers that would launch Breakthrough Starshot to deflect asteroids or comets: https://www....
Jonathan's user avatar
  • 223
7 votes
1 answer
311 views

How could we hear back from Breakthrough Starshot? [duplicate]

The Breakthrough Starshot concept is to send a swarm of tiny spacecraft on a flyby mission to Proxima Centauri b. These are tiny spacecraft (on the scale of centimeters). Given how miniscule the ...
Anthony X's user avatar
  • 17.6k
1 vote
1 answer
105 views

Effective range of a laser propelled solar sail

The ongoing Breakthrough Starshot program proposes the use of high powered lasers on Earth to be aimed at a solar sail with the intention of propelling it to the star Alpha Centauri. To be more ...
PolyversialMind's user avatar
6 votes
1 answer
430 views

Project Starshot acceleration

A recent question about Project Starshot's communication asks about one of the seemingly insurmountable problems with this project. There is however another problem that has bugged me ever since I ...
hdhondt's user avatar
  • 1,194
3 votes
0 answers
226 views

Why would "Breakthrough Starshot" need photon thrusters?

Found here (italics added, bold in source): Nanocrafts are gram-scale robotic spacecrafts comprising two main parts: StarChip: Moore’s law has allowed a dramatic decrease in the size of ...
user avatar
20 votes
4 answers
880 views

How are the tiny spacecraft proposed by Project Starshot supposed to communicate with Earth?

Between power limitations and aperture-limited diffraction I just can't see how it's possible.
Schlusstein's user avatar
  • 2,157
5 votes
0 answers
775 views

Breakthrough Starshot's 100 Gigawatt laser array - what's the current thinking how this might work?

In the article Breakthrough Starshot tricks out massive telescope for planet hunting there is casual mention of a "phased array of lasers in the 100GW range" that will propel a gram scale spacecraft ...
uhoh's user avatar
  • 149k
9 votes
4 answers
495 views

How will Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking's nanobots decelerate and transmit data upon arrival at Alpha Centauri?

Does anyone know what exactly is their plan, once they get there? How is that nano-thing going to slow down / take images / send data back to us? I couldn't find any information on this.
Ash's user avatar
  • 383