Low-cost interstellar probe targets Alpha Centauri on an 80,000-year journey
A new nonprofit, Fermi Explorer, proposes a roughly 100–110 kg spacecraft powered by xenon ion propulsion and solar energy to reach Alpha Centauri’s future position by around 2043, then coast for about 80,000 years. Launch could occur by 2029 for under $15 million, carrying at least 1 kg of payload and a physical archival record, but with no plan to transmit data back. Success is defined as completing 99% of the distance to Alpha Centauri rather than arriving in a human lifetime; the project is unfunded and presents a long-term, exploratory interstellar concept rather than an immediately achievable mission.