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In brief: A small team of engineers and scientists have announced what they are describing as humanity's first mission to another star. It's an ambitious mission, but one that'd barely put a dent in the budgets of major space players like NASA or SpaceX.
The Fermi Explorer Mission aims to launch in just three years and arrive at Alpha Centauri in roughly 80,000 years at a cost of less than $15 million – an absolute bargain, relatively speaking. The non-profit is co-founded by Philip Johnston, Ezra Feilden, and Adi Oltean, who recently brought startup Starcloud to life. An 81-page PDF is available to download, outlining the full mission plan and analysis.
The team expects its spacecraft to be the first to set sail but the last to actually arrive at its destination. Advances in technology should allow humanity to build spacecraft in the not-too-distant future that can travel through space at much faster speeds. Even with the head start, Fermi Explorer will lose the race by a wide margin.
