Stephen Hawking Wants To Seek Life In Outer Space By Sending Tiny Spacecraft To Alpha Centauri
NEW YORK (CBSNewYork/AP) --An Internet investor has enlisted famed physicist Stephen Hawking and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to help him with a futuristic plan for seeking life in outer space.
Yuri Milner announced the $100 million project Tuesday. It's aimed at establishing the feasibility of sending a swarm of tiny spacecraft, each weighing far less than an ounce, to the Alpha Centauri star system.
"There's one underlying big theme, which is looking for other life in the universe," Milner told The Washington Post. "But this initiative also has a theme of pure exploration behind it."
Powered by energy from a huge, Earth-based laser, the spacecraft would fly at about one-fifth the speed of light. Their target would be a planet with potential for holding life. No such planet has been discovered yet at Alpha Centauri, but experts say one may lurk there.
The spacecraft would take 20 years to reach the star system, where they would make observations and send back data.
"The message that Stephen Hawking and I want to send is that for the first time ever, this is an achievable goal," Milner told The Post. "We can stand up and talk about it. Fifteen years ago, it wouldn't have made sense to make this investment. Now we've looked at the numbers, and it does."
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