Swarming Proxima Centauri: Coherent Picospacecraft Swarms Over Interstellar Distances

Thomas EubanksSpace Initiatives, Inc. Tiny gram-scale interstellar probes pushed by laser light are likely to be the only technology capable of reaching another star this century. We presuppose availability by mid-century of a laser beamer powerful enough (~100-GW) to boost a few grams to relativistic speed, lasersails robust enough to survive launch, and terrestrial light […]