How AI plotted an interstellar journey to Alpha Centauri

A nonprofit organization, the Fermi Explorer Mission, has announced plans to launch a spacecraft to the nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, by the end of 2029. The ambitious mission aims to transport a spacecraft capable of covering distances of up to 80,000 years to reach Alpha Centauri, which lies 4.4 light-years away from Earth.

The spacecraft's trajectory was discovered by an AI system developed by Physical Superintelligence (PSI), an AI physics research lab. PSI secured $58 million in funding, led by Breakthrough energy, a climate-investment group founded by Microsoft co-founder Bill Gates. This isn't the first attempt at interstellar travel; in 2016, billionaire tech investor Yuri Milner proposed Breakthrough Starshot, which aimed to launch tiny probes to Alpha Centauri using powerful lasers. However, no spacecraft has been launched yet.

Fermi Explorer Mission's Cofounder and President, Philip Johnston, emphasizes their determination to make the mission a reality, with a budget of just $15 million, significantly lower than previous attempts. The spacecraft will carry a 1kg payload containing artistic and scientific materials, messages, and a copy of the Golden Record, a gold-plated disc containing Earth's sounds and images created by NASA in 1977 for potential extraterrestrial civilizations.

Engineering an interstellar journey is incredibly challenging; Alpha Centauri is approximately 25 trillion miles away, and even the fastest human-made object, Voyager 1, has only covered less than 1% of that distance since its launch in 1977. The ship's engineers struggled to create a feasible route, particularly in providing enough power without increasing the spacecraft's weight.

After struggling for a year, Johnston mentioned the issue to Alex Wissner-Gross, a physicist who co-founded PSI, leading to a breakthrough through an AI system called Get Physics Done, an open-source software that breaks down physics research questions into smaller tasks and utilizes AI models to find solutions. After running simulations for three days, the AI proposed a novel trajectory that the Fermi team had not considered, combining known orbital maneuvers in a unique way.

The AI also determined that the spacecraft could benefit from the sun's energy by slowing down near it, which would make the solar panels smaller and the spacecraft lighter. Although AI lacks human judgment and taste, it has shown the potential to generate creative solutions to complex problems. However, Johnston acknowledges that the Fermi probe will not be the first to reach Alpha Centauri, as future spacecraft technology is expected to improve rapidly.

Nonetheless, the mission represents a significant step in humanity's quest to explore the stars and addresses fundamental questions about the existence of extraterrestrial life in the galaxy.