Starcloud Founders Plan 80,000-Year Mission to Send Spacecraft Toward Alpha Centauri

A startup team behind orbital computing company Starcloud is exploring an unusual approach to interstellar exploration: launching a small spacecraft toward Alpha Centauri on a journey expected to take around 80,000 years.

The proposed mission, called Fermi Explorer, is being developed by a nonprofit group founded by Starcloud leaders Philip Johnston, Adi Oltean and Ezra Feilden, along with program manager Garret Jameson. The team is seeking partners, funding, and technical support to build a spacecraft to carry a small payload into interstellar space.

If launched, Fermi Explorer would become the first human-made object specifically designed to travel toward another star. The spacecraft would join a small group of probes that have left the solar system, including NASA’s Voyager spacecraft.

A different approach to interstellar travel

Unlike previous concepts focused on reaching another star within a human lifetime, Fermi Explorer is designed around a much longer timeline. The mission team estimates the project will cost about $15 million and hopes to launch the spacecraft in 2029.

The mission takes its name from the Fermi paradox, which explores why humanity has not yet detected evidence of intelligent extraterrestrial civilisations despite the enormous size of the universe.

The spacecraft concept relies on existing space technologies rather than developing entirely new propulsion systems. The plan involves launching the vehicle via a rideshare mission on a rocket and using low-power electric propulsion to gradually build a trajectory that will eventually send it toward Alpha Centauri.

The spacecraft is expected to operate for roughly 12 years before entering a long coast phase. The team estimates that the vehicle would continue travelling toward its destination for tens of thousands of years, with the hope that a future civilisation could eventually encounter it.

Moving beyond previous interstellar proposals

Interstellar missions face major challenges because of the enormous distances involved. NASA’s Voyager 1, launched in 1977, is currently billions of kilometres from Earth, while Alpha Centauri is more than 40 trillion kilometres away.

Earlier efforts, including the Breakthrough Starshot initiative, explored advanced propulsion concepts aimed at reaching Alpha Centauri within decades. The project, backed by technology investors and researchers, focused on using laser-based propulsion systems but later stalled after years of development.

Fermi Explorer takes a different path by accepting an extremely long travel time in exchange for using available technology. The team argues that launching a real spacecraft is more important than waiting for future propulsion breakthroughs.

The proposed vehicle would carry a small payload measuring about 10 centimetres square and weighing around 1 kilogram. The mission organisers are also inviting scientific and artistic contributions, similar to the approach used for NASA’s Voyager Golden Record.

If completed, Fermi Explorer would represent an attempt to begin interstellar exploration using today’s technology, even though the spacecraft would not reach another star for many thousands of years.