An Animation Outlining How the First Interstellar Mission Could Work

The Atlantic interviewed entrepreneur Yuri Milner in an animated video outlining how the first interstellar mission could work using solar sails and small, inexpensive spacecraft.

In a 1610 correspondence to Galileo Galilei, Johannes Kepler noted, “Ships and sails proper for the heavenly air should be fashioned. Then, there will also be people, who do not shrink from the dreary vastness of space.” Now, more than four centuries later, the Russian venture capitalist Yuri Milner is applying these principles to modern day space exploration.