Pipe dream, or not? Either way, nice to see someone putting real money begin interstellar space exploration. Even if the project ultimately fails, there remains the possibility of breakthroughs that could be used later:
Billionaire pledges $100m to send spaceships to Alpha Centauri
Billionaire pledges $100m to send spaceships to Alpha Centauri
Today, billionaire Yuri Milner, along with physicist Stephen Hawking, announced the largest ever investment in interstellar travel: a $100 million fund to research and prototype a spacecraft capable of reaching the nearest star in just 20 years.
Forget starships, though. These “wafersats” would be small enough to fit in your hand, weighing just a few grams. Milner and his scientific advisory team believe recent developments in lasers and nanotechnology 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.