We might soon have the technology to reach other star systems

The discovery of an atmosphere around an exoplanet called LHS 1140b, located forty-eight light years away in the habitable zone of a red dwarf star, has energized researchers exploring how we might one day visit distant worlds. The Conversation reports that miniaturization—driven by advances in smartphone sensors and even millimeter-scale "smart dust"—is making interstellar probes technically plausible. Instead of launching massive spacecraft with onboard fuel, scientists are investigating light sails: reflective membranes that can be pushed by either lasers or sunlight. A laser-pushed sail could be accelerated to ten to twenty percent the speed of light within minutes, then coast across interstellar space in decades, making observations as it passes through a distant star system. While that level of laser power remains years away, solar sails have already been tested in Earth orbit and could enable new deep-space missions to challenging targets like long-period comets. It's not Star Trek, but plausible: a tiny, intelligent probe, asleep for decades, then awake for a few days of frantic science before transmitting its findings home.

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