GoKawiilFermi Explorer Mission uses AI to design $15M Alpha Centauri probe route
The nonprofit Fermi Explorer Mission, led by Philip Johnston, has spent a year designing a low-cost interstellar spacecraft meant to actually launch toward Alpha Centauri, unlike Yuri Milner's stalled Breakthrough Starshot project. Facing a persistent engineering puzzle over powering a lightweight solar craft without adding excessive weight, the team turned to artificial intelligence tools to help chart a viable trajectory. The mission, backed by private donors and budgeted at $15 million, plans to carry a small payload including art, messages, and a copy of the Golden Record.