Breakthrough Starshot, the Stephen Hawking-backed attempt to reach Alpha Centauri, has successfully flown its first ever spacecraft – the smallest ever launched.
Stephen Hawking and Yuri Milner announced the $100-million-dollar research program in April 2016, aiming to show that light-propelled spacecraft could fly at 20% of light speed and reach the next nearest galaxy just 20 years after their launch.
Last month, a number of their prototype “Sprites” tiny fully functional space probes built on a single circuit board, achieved Low Earth Orbit.
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