Here's how we might visit another star with laser-propelled robots
The plan involves tiny, mass-produced nanocraft that should cost about as much as an iPhone.
Within the nanocraft will be a StarChip, a "gram-scale wafer" the carries all the necessary equipment — thrusters, power supply, communications, a camera, and more — the spaceship needs to explore deep space.
The tiny ships will be propelled by an array of powerful lasers back on Earth, called the "light beamer."
But first a large mothership will ferry thousands of nanocraft to a high-altitude orbit around Earth.
Each nanocraft will have a "light sail" that's only a few hundred atoms thick and weighs mere grams.
The light beamer array will use adaptive optics to shoot gigawatts of laser power up to the nanocraft, all while compensating for atmospheric conditions in real-time.
Once a light sail catches the concentrated light beam, the nanocraft will accelerate to its target speed within minutes.
In addition to propelling nanocraft, the light beamer array will also serve as a receiver for any data that's beamed back to Earth.
The nanocraft might travel as fast as 20% the speed of light, which should get them to Alpha Centauri in just over 20 years. Though they'll travel at unbelievable speed, it will be a long, lonely trip.
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