Stephen Hawking And Billionaire Team Aim To Discover Alien Life With Nanocraft

Renowned physicist Stephen Hawking and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner are shooting for a new quest. They are teaming up to go on a $100 million search for alien life in Breakthrough Starshot. This will be based on a group of tiny spacecraft called nanocrafts that have been manufactured in order to go on a voyage to seek life in space.

With Facebook CEO Mark Zuckerberg, the team is heading towards the target to explore space.

"I think you and I will be happy to see the launch," Milner said. "We came to the conclusion it can be done: interstellar travel."

They are sure that "habitable zones" of Alpha Centauri, which is the closest star system to the Earth, might have an earth-like planet that gives them hope of discovering life there.

Breakthrough Starshot will launch its light-propelled nanocraft into space, hoping to touch in two decades the Alpha Centauri star system that is 4.37 light-years away.

The nanocraft will fly at 20 percent the speed of light, making use of a sail propelled by a light beam, which will help to give it a ride on the current spacecraft.

Hence, it would take 30,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri with the current spacecraft.

"Earth is a wonderful place, but it might not last forever," Hawking said. "Sooner or later, we must look to the stars. Breakthrough Starshot is a very exciting first step on that journey."

Even after it reaches Alpha Centauri, the team feels that it would take another four years for the spacecraft to collect and beam back information to the earth.

Pete Worden, former director of the NASA AMES Research Center, along with a committee of renowned scientists and engineers, will head the team for the initiative.