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World-renowned British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking on Tuesday teamed up with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg in a 100-million-U.S.-dollar effort to make tiny spaceships capable of interstellar space travel.
Hawking and Milner made the joint announcement at a press conference held at One World Observatory in New York City Tuesday.
The project Authentic Will Richardson Jersey , dubbed ""Breakthrough Starshot,"" is a research and engineering program that aims to build laser beam propelled ""nanocrafts"" that can travel at 20 percent of lightspeed -- more than 1000 times faster than current fastest spacecraft.
According to Milner, once the ""nanocrafts"" are built, they could reach Alpha Centauri, a star 4.37 light-years away, approximately 20 years in a fly-by mission.
Alpha Centauri is one of the closest star systems to the solar system and the current fastest spacecraft would have to spend 30,000 years to get there.
The ""nanocrafts"" are gram-scale robotic spacecrafts consisting of two main parts: a computer CPU sized ""StarChip"" and a ""Lightsail"" made with metamaterials no more than a few hundred atoms thick.
Astrophysicist Stephen Hawking speaks at the "StarShot" project press conference at One World Observatory in New York, the United States, April 12, 2016. British astrophysicist Stephen Hawking announced here Tuesday he is teaming up with Russian billionaire Yuri Milner and a group of scientists for a new "Starshot" space exploration program, which will build tiny spacecraft called "nanocraft" capable of reaching the Alpha Centauri star system in approximately 20 years after launch. (XinhuaLi Changxiang)
Although weighing just a few grams, the ""StarChip"" is a fully functional space probe, which carries various equipment including cameras, navigation and communication.
""The 'StarChip' can be mass-produced at the cost of an iPhone,"" Milner said.
The ""nanocrafts"" can then be propelled into space by a powerful laser beam, which according to Avi Loeb, a theoretical physicist and panelist at the news conference, will carry a power of 100 gigawatt.
""This is the power needed to lift off a space shuttle,"" Loeb said.
Milner and the scientists believe that with the rising power and falling costs of lasers, the entire process is practical within a couple of years.
""Fifteen years ago, it wouldn't have made sense to make this investment. Now we've looked at the numbers, and it does,"" Milner said.
The project was part of the Breakthrough Initiatives first launched in July 2015 by Hawking and Milner, including a series of research plans to scan the 100 galaxies closest to the Milky Way in search for aliens. ""Starshot"" is its newest endeavor.
Hawking believes that human's innate sense to transcend limits is the driving force behind the project. ""Gravity pins us to the ground, but I just flew to America.""
While one cannot hear the joking tone through Hawking's voice synthesizer, his humor had been easily received.
Theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson (2nd, L) speaks at the ""StarShot"" project press conference at One World Observatory in New York, the United States, April 12, 2016. Russian billionaire Yuri Milner (1st, L) speaks at the ""StarShot"" project press conference at One World Observatory in New York, the United States, April 12, 2016. Attendees are (R to L): former director of NASA's Ames Research Center Pete Worden, NASA astronaut Mae Jemison, theoretical physicist Avi Loeb, author and producer Ann Druyan, theoretical physicist and mathematician Freeman Dyson, astrophysicist Stephen Hawking and Russian billionaire Yuri Milner. Stephen Hawking announces space exploration program to reach Alpha Centauri star system
What the scientists are looking for is not just reaching Alpha Centauri, but what can be learned during the efforts.
""A lot of science will be learned by the process of going through this, making this happen,"" said panelist Mae Jemison, a former NASA astronaut. ""There's big task ahead, there's a big leap in getting something of a micro size to go at some percentage of the speed of light. That will have all kinds of reverberations.""
Tuesday also marked the 55th anniversary of the first human space flight by Russian cosmonaut Yuri Gagarin.
""Today we commit to this next great leap into the cosmos because we are human and our nature is to fly,"" Hawking said.
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KINSHASA, April 4 (Xinhua) -- The Congolese National Electricity Company (SNEL) and China Three Gorges Corporation (CTG) over the weekend signed in Kinshasa an agreement to improve electricity distribution in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DR Congo).
According to DR Congo authorities, the partnership between SNEL and CTG aims to exploit the Congolese energy potential that is estimated at 100,000 megawatts, to effectively respond to the increasing needs of power in the country.
Through the agreement, CTG agreed to support SNEL in accomplishment of the Grand Inga project as well as construction of several other hydroelectric power stations across the country.
SNEL Director General Eric Mbala said ""having a big partner like Three Gorges was an enormous opportunity for his organization and for DR Congo.""
Grand Inga project, revived in 2013 by the DR Congo government, envisions several phases of extension of electric production capacities along Inga Falls, in Kongo-Central province.
Two hydroelectric dams, constructed along the falTweet
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