
Tiny spacecraft tested as part of plan for interstellar travel - microwavecamera
http://www.astronomy.com/news/2019/05/tiny-spacecraft-tested-as-part-of-breakthrough-starshot-plan-for-interstellar-travel
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njarboe
A list of tech needed to build such a craft[1]. I was interested in how they
are thinking about getting a signal back to Earth from Alpha Centauri. It
looks like they are hoping a 1W laser might be detectable from such a
distance[2].

[1][https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/challenges/3](https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/challenges/3)
[2][https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/forum/14?page=2](https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/forum/14?page=2)

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unnouinceput
I hope quantum entanglement (QE) it will be achieved. It's hard to have QE now
between billions of chips to achieve an internet without wires/delay, but
between 2 chips one on board of the tiny spaceship and the other here on Earth
to have instant communication without having 4 years delay is totally feasible
right now. I know, I'm a dreamer :)

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mark_l_watson
Very cool. I always thought that the path to interstellar exploration has two
options: small devices like this with adequate AI for exploration, and better,
larger devices that would have human DNA, micro factories to build bigger
factories, and bootstrap life.

Clearly option 1 is much more feasible in the next hundred years or so.

