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Physicists Unveil Radical Plan to Send a Probe Beyond Interstellar Space...and out if our solar system...

Getting a spacecraft to another star is a monumental challenge. However, that doesn't 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.
https://www.sciencealert.com/physicists-...llar-space

The paper, on the other hand, looks at probe sizes up to about 1,000 kg – about 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 – what type of beam?

Breakthrough Starshot is planning a laser beam, probably in the visible spectrum, that will push directly on light sails attached to the probe. However, given the current state of optical technology, this beam could only push effectively on the probe is ONLY around 0.1 AU of its journey, which totals more than 277,000 AU to Alpha Centauri.