Scientists at the California Institute of Technology have taken a major step toward developing lightsails that could one day ...

But could humans or spacecraft ever reach Alpha Centauri, the closest star system to our planet? Alpha Centauri is about 4.4 ...

An open letter to any friendly aliens who are considering making first contact with Earth soon: If I've learned anything from ...

Tiny spaceships could be accelerated by lasers so that they reach the nearest star in 20 years. That's the theory. Now it's ...

The idea of a lightsail comes from the fact that radiation pressure represents a mechanical pressure acting on a surface due ...

"Chemical rockets that we use today, even with the extra speed boost from flying by planets, or from swinging by the sun for ...

Powered by laser light, this tiny sail lays the groundwork for future advances in lightsail technology and the potential for ...

But some projects are designing ways to propel payloads to the nearest star system (Alpha Centauri) using beams of electrons. A new proposal uses an electron beam fired from a stable platform near ...

Unlike in earlier series entries, where futuristic goals like reaching Alpha Centauri or establishing the first colonies in ...

The project hopes to propel roughly 1,000 tiny "StarChip" spacecraft toward Alpha Centauri, the second-closest star system to Earth, at 20% of light-speed (about 134 million mph). Each "chip ...

A team of scientists has made the first experimental measurements of laser-induced motions of miniature lightsails in the lab.

I like the Vvolt Centauri II so much that I feel the need to open with a disclaimer: I am not getting paid by Vvolt, and Lifehacker has no relationship with the company. For general urban riding ...