It would take standard rockets 100,000 years to
reach the Solar System’s nearest star, Alpha
Centauri. Breakthrough Starshot hopes to do it
in 22. A spacecraft carrying 1,000 ultralight
probes, weighing 10g each, would be launched
into Earth orbit. The ‘mothership’ would release
the tiny probes one at a time, which would then
ride the beams of a colossal ground-based
laser array. The project has received US$93m
from entrepreneur Yuri Milner, and backing
from Prof Stephen Hawking.Breakthrough Starshot
StarChip
At the centre of each
sail is a chip the size
of a postage stamp,
containing a camera,
processor, battery and
transmitter.Laser array
A ground-based grid of
lasers, at least a kilometre
across, fires more than a
gigawatt of laser energy
into the sky.Acceleration
The beams converge and
shine on each probe for
10 minutes, accelerating
them to between 15 and
20 per cent of the speed
of light. 22-year journey
The probes cannot
steer or slow down, so
they must be precisely
aimed for a close flyby
with distant planets.Light sail
Probes are released
one at a time and
unfurl reflective sails.
These are 4m across
but just a few hundred
atoms thick.Mothership
Releases the probes.PHOTOS: GETTY, SCIENCE PHOTO LIBRARY, ISTOCK X10 ILLUSTRATION: CHRIS PHILPOT
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Weight: 183kg
Diet: rats, deer, goats
Heaviest recorded specimen - J ag u ar
Weight: 158kg
Diet: caiman,
deer, capybaras - Green anaconda
Weight: 97.5kg
Diet: fish, birds, deer - Spotted hyena
Weight: 90kg
Diet: wildebeest, zebra - African lion
Weight: 250kg
Diet: wildebeest, zebra,
carrion - Grey wolf
Weight: 80kg
Diet: moose, deer
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