Recently, there has also been the Breakthrough Starshot initiative, which is supported by Stephen Hawking. It hopes to use a ground-based beam of light to propel light sails attached to ultra-light nanocrafts. The crafts could theoretically reach speeds of one hundred million miles per hour and reach a nearby star system such as Alpha Centauri in twenty years. It could then beam back images and other information. Clearly, these aren’t good enough options for manned interstellar travel, but we’ve only really been in space for little over half a century.
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