A nonprofit organization called the Fermi Explorer Mission announced plans to launch a spacecraft to Alpha Centauri by the end of 2029. The ambitious mission aims to reach the star system 4.4 light-years away, with arrival potentially taking up to 80,000 years. The spacecraft will follow a novel trajectory discovered by an AI system developed by Physical Superintelligence (PSI), an AI physics research lab.

PSI launched today with $58 million in funding led by Breakthrough Energy, the climate-focused investment group founded by Bill Gates. The mission differs from the 2016 Breakthrough Starshot initiative, which aimed to use lasers to propel probes to a fifth of light speed. That plan stalled despite $100 million pledged by Yuri Milner.

Fermi cofounder Philip Johnston stated the team wanted something actually launching, not just a concept. The new mission, funded by private donors, is expected to cost just $15 million. To adhere to this budget, the team deliberately avoided constraining the mission to a human lifetime.

The spacecraft will carry at least one kilogram of cargo, including artistic and scientific payloads, messages, and a copy of the Golden Record from the Voyager probes. Engineering an interstellar journey is extremely difficult, as Voyager 1, the fastest human-made object, has traveled less than 1% of the distance in 47 years. After a year of failures, Johnston mentioned the problem on a podcast hosted by Alex Wissner-Gross, PSI's cofounder.

The AI system Get Physics Done ran the research mostly on its own for three days using a billion tokens. It combined well-known orbital maneuvers in a previously unexplored way, suggesting the spacecraft first slows down so its orbit swings close to the sun. On each pass, solar panels receive four times the light, and a high-speed engine burst delivers more energy, allowing small panels and a lightweight craft.