Co-owner of Mail.ru Group Yuri Milner and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking will send a swarm of nanosatellites to Alpha Centauri

Photo: Stuart C. Wilson / Getty Images

Russian businessman Yuri Milner and theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking announced in New York about the launch of a new project called Breakthrough Starshot. Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg will take part in the project. The main objectives of the project - the study of deep space and the search for life in the universe. Astronomers believe that the Earth-like planet can exist in Alpha Centauri, in the so-called "habitable zone". This is a conditional area in space, determined on the basis that the conditions on the surface of the planets in it will be close to the conditions on Earth and ensure the existence of water in the liquid phase.

Alpha Centauri is located 4.37 light years from Earth. Project participants will study the possibility of creating a swarm of nanosatellites that will be sent to a foreign star. The speed of their movement will be about 20% of the speed of light. The satellites will be equipped with a "laser sail", which will be affected by a whole array of lasers. This will gradually increase the speed to 20% of the speed of light. True, the creation of such a satellite is a matter of the future, despite the fact that the idea is based on technologies that either already exist or become available in the next few years.

There will be not a dozen satellites, and not a hundred, but thousands. They will have to reach Alpha Centauri 20 years after launch. If you go to a nearby star on an ordinary rocket, it will arrive at its target in many thousands of years. Each satellite will have cameras, photon engines, energy sources, navigation and communication equipment. In addition, they will be equipped with a "laser sail", as already indicated. Upon arrival, the satellites will begin transmitting information that will arrive on Earth in 4 years (4.37).
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The Breakthrough Starshot program will be headed by the former head of the NASA AMES Research Center. Under his leadership will work scientists and world-class engineers.

The project announcement was timed to the 55th anniversary of manned space flight. This was announced by Yuri Milner himself in an interview with Gazeta.ru. He also said that the project has a number of technical difficulties (at least 20), but all of them are planned to be solved in the coming decades.

Last year, Milner announced the allocation of $ 100 million to fund the Breakthrough Initiatives initiative. These funds will be used for ten years. Previously, it was announced about the division of the project into two parts: the first, Breakthrough Listen, using SETI, whose task is to listen to more than a million stars in search of extraterrestrial life. And the second part of Breakthrough Message, will compile and send a welcome message to aliens representing humanity and our planet.

As we see, now the third part of the project has appeared, even more interesting.