Flight planCalculator

Plan your own mission to Alpha Centauri.

Pick a speed, a probe, and a drive. The numbers come from the relativistic rocket equation, computed in your browser. Add your age to see how old you'd be when the first pictures arrive.

Cruise speed0.20 c

Probe dry mass100 kg

Everything except propellant: instruments, shielding, radiators, the drive itself.

Drive efficiency η0.90

1.0: all exhaust aimed straight back. 0.84: the pair-beam drive at 50% power conversion, radiators facing aft. 0.58: the same without radiator thrust.

Mission profile

Boost acceleration0.10 g

Harder acceleration shortens the boost but needs a more powerful beam.

Launch year

Your age today

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Launch2055

Example year, from Earth orbit

Arrival2079

Probe enters orbit

First images home2083

Light needs 4.34 years

Trip time, Earth clock: 23.7 yr
Trip time, probe clock: 23.3 yr
Peak speed: 0.200 c
Engine-on time, both burns: 3.95 yr
Launch mass: 157 kg
Propellant: 56.9 kg
Of which antimatter: 28.5 kg
Energy released: 1.22 Gt TNT
Share of a year of world energy: 0.85%
Beam power at launch: 51.3 GW

Ideal relativistic photon rocket: a burn at constant proper acceleration (the g felt on board), a coast, and an identical braking burn if you choose to brake into orbit. Assumes all propellant annihilates (half matter, half antimatter). η is the exhaust's net aft momentum times c, divided by its energy: 1 for a perfect beam, 0.5 for light spread evenly into the rear hemisphere. See the equations.

Join/ The mission

Help us get there in our lifetime.

We are gathering physicists, engineers, and backers who want to see another star system up close. Get mission updates, or tell us how you'd like to help.