Hawking studies 1/5 light-speed spacecraft that reach the nearest star in 25 years.

As part of an effort to save humanity, renowned physicist Stephen Hawking is working on a spacecraft that can fly at 1/5 light speed -- meaning it could reach its nearest star within 25 years and send back images of a suspected "second Earth," British media said.
Hawking, who published his research at the Stamus Festival, warned that humans must move to another planet as soon as possible if they are to survive, The Independent reported on June 21.
He says one of the explanations why the Earth has not yet been visited by high-level civilizations from another part of the universe is that every time "intelligent" life evolves, it self-destructs through "war, disease, and weapons of mass destruction."
Hawking said that in addition to the possibility that we could suffer such fate, the Earth has become too small for our growing population, with its "physical resources ... is being depleted at an alarming rate."
, asteroid impacts or some other type of catastrophic cosmic event would also pose a major threat.
the spacecraft, known as an "interstellar chip," will be only a few centimeters in size and weigh only a few grams, the Agency reported.
it will be powered by an array of lasers on Earth that will use beams to drive miniature detectors that fly at about 100 million miles per hour, or one-half the speed of light.
"The system can reach Mars in less than an hour, Pluto in a few days, surpass the Voyager space probe (launched in 1977) in a week, and reach the half-man alpha in just over 20 years," Hawking said.
Once there, the nanoscale spacecraft can image any planet in the star system, detect magnetic fields and organic molecules, and send data back to Earth with another beam of light,"
said.
these faint signals will be received by the same disc laser array previously used to transmit the emission beam, and the journey back to Earth is estimated to be about 4 light-years.
importantly, the trajectory of these 'interstellar chips' may include a close-range flyby of the Earth-sized planet in the livable zone of the half-human alpha star.
Hawking said the project, called Breakthrough Star, is "a real opportunity for humans to try to enter outer space as early as possible in order to investigate and measure the possibility of human migration into space."
not human interstellar travel, even if it can be expanded to upgrade to a spaceship carrying astronauts," he admits.
't stop.
but this will be the moment when human culture moves towards interstellarity, when our steps will eventually move into the Milky Way.
and if the Breakthrough Star program sends back images of livable planets orbiting our nearest star, it will be of great significance for the future of mankind.
the "Interstellar Chip" is flying so fast that any images taken by its camera instruments will be "slightly deformed" by the effects of special relativity, the Monitor reported.
this will be the first time that any object has this effect because it is running fast enough.
is standing at the door of the new era, " said Hawking.
human migration to other planets is no longer a scientific fantasy.
it can become a reality.
," he warned, "too big and too many" threats to give people hope for the future, and the need to find new homes for human migration has become urgent.
Cambridge Academic says the moon and Mars are possible places to migrate.
moon is too small and has no atmosphere or magnetic field to transfer solar radiation.
Mars has also lost its magnetic field and much of its atmosphere.
Hawking said humans should have a base on the moon by 2020 and sent people to Mars by 2025.
added that human interstellar travel could be possible in the next 200 to 500 years.
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