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Getting a spacecraft to another star is a monumental challenge. However, that doesn\u2019t stop people from working on it. The most visible groups currently doing so are Breakthrough Starshot and the Tau Zero Foundation, both of whom focus on a very particular type of propulsion-beamed power. A paper from the Chairman of Tau Zero\u2019s board, Jeffrey Greason, and Gerrit Bruhaug, a physicist at Los Alamos National Laboratory who specializes in laser physics, takes a look at the physics of one such beaming technology \u2013 a relativistic electron beam \u2013 how it might be used to push a spacecraft to another star.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n There are plenty of considerations when designing this type of mission. One of the biggest of them (literally) is how heavy the spacecraft is. Breakthrough Starshot focuses on a tiny design with gigantic solar \u201cwings\u201d that would allow them to ride a beam of light to Alpha Centauri. However, for practical purposes, a probe that small will be able to gather little to no actual information once it arrives there\u2014it\u2019s more of a feat of engineering rather than an actual scientific mission.<\/p>\n The paper, on the other hand, looks at probe sizes up to about 1000kg\u2014about the size of the Voyager probes built in the 1970s. Obviously, with more advanced technology, it would be possible to fit a lot more sensors and controls on them than what those systems had. But pushing such a large probe with a beam requires another design consideration\u2014what type of beam?<\/p>\n \n