Chesley Bonestell, “The Exploration of Mars” (1953), oil on board, 143/8 x 28 inches, gift of William Estler, Smithsonian National Air and Space Museum. Reproduced courtesy of Bonestell LLC.

Small Step Holds Big Space Promise

April 21, 2016

 

4/19/16 – To make journeys into deep space more practical, the trick will be developing radically new propulsion systems, an analyst has argued in Issues. In this spirit, an initiative called Breakthrough Starshot has announced that it will pony up $100 million to build a laser propulsion system to boost hordes of tiny space probes to our stellar neighbor Alpha Centauri, with hope that success will set the stage for sending larger spacecraft on interstellar journeys in the future.