Startup founders unveil $15 million plan to launch 80,000-year interstellar probe
Starcloud’s founders have created a nonprofit called Fermi Explorer to build a 1-kilogram spacecraft that would travel 80,000 years to Alpha Centauri, seeking partners and funding for a 2029 launch.
Starcloud’s founders have launched a new nonprofit, Fermi Explorer, to pursue an 80,000-year voyage to Alpha Centauri using existing space technology. The proposed probe would carry a 10 cm square, 1-kilogram payload and be placed on a rideshare launch, then employ low-power electric thrusters to escape the solar system. Costing about $15 million, the mission targets a 2029 launch and plans for the spacecraft to remain operational for roughly 12 years before coasting for the remainder of its trip.
The team cites the durability of metal hardware, comparing it to dinosaur fossils, and does not intend to power the probe after the long cruise, hoping an advanced civilization might retrieve it. The initiative seeks vendors, financial backers, and scientific or artistic payloads, echoing the spirit of earlier interstellar concepts such as Breakthrough Starshot, which collapsed in 2025. By opting for proven methods rather than new propulsion research, the founders aim to achieve a historic first: the earliest human-made object deliberately aimed at another star.
Why it matters
It shows how modest, existing technology could be used to attempt the first human-directed interstellar mission.
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