RoadmapProblems and phases
What stands between us and Alpha Centauri, and the order we plan to take it on.
01/ The hard problems
Interstellar flight is hard in specific, nameable ways. Here is each problem, where the world stands today, and how SoLeV attacks it.
A probe needs kilograms of antimatter.
TodayCERN says all the antimatter it has ever made would light a single bulb for only minutes.
Our approachLaser-driven pair production, whose yield grows roughly as the square of laser energy. Long term: a dedicated, solar-powered production facility.
Antimatter must never touch the walls of its container.
TodayAntiprotons have been kept in traps for more than a year, and in March 2026 CERN drove trapped antiprotons around its campus. The best positron traps hold billions.
Our approachGrams of positrons carry too much charge to hold as a trapped plasma. They need a dense, wall-free storage form that does not exist yet, stable for decades and built to survive launch.
No material reflects gamma rays head-on.
TodayGamma-ray mirrors and crystals exist, but they bend annihilation light by less than a degree.
Our approachAim the electrons and positrons before they annihilate, so their light is born moving aft and no mirror is needed. Simulated first, then tested with laser-made pair beams.
At 0.2 c, a one-microgram dust grain hits like 0.44 kg of TNT.
TodayNo spacecraft has flown faster than about 0.064 percent of light speed.
Our approachLayered forward shields, a slim profile, and sacrificial armor sized from interstellar dust measurements.
Braking with the same drive squares the mass ratio, more than doubling the fuel.
TodayMost interstellar designs, from Daedalus to Starshot, are flybys that cross the target system in hours.
Our approachThe probe would carry its own braking fuel, and magnetic-sail drag on the interstellar gas could reduce how much it needs.
Every message takes 4.34 years each way.
TodayNASA has sent data by laser from deep space, and Voyager 1 still talks from interstellar space.
Our approachOptical communications, a large receiving array on Earth, and a probe that makes its own decisions.
02/ Roadmap
Phases end with a test, not a date. Every stage also produces something useful on its own, from open simulation tools to a probe that could reach the Sun's gravitational lens.
The SoLeV drive is first written up as an undergraduate research paper at Auburn University.
Open simulation of pair production, the pair-beam drive and its alternatives. Building the team.
ExitA drive design with a credible path to η above 0.5
Merging laser-made electron and positron beams at high-intensity laser facilities, and measuring where their light goes.
ExitDirected gamma emission measured from a controlled pair source
The first annihilation photon thruster tested in space.
ExitThrust from annihilation light measured in orbit
A probe to the Sun's gravitational lens, 550 AU out, where the Sun's gravity focuses starlight like a giant telescope.
ExitSustained flight above 1% of light speed
Antimatter production and storage at the gram scale.
ExitGrams made, stored and moved safely
The probe cruises at a fifth of light speed, brakes into orbit and stays.
Join/ The mission
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