by Alvin Stoichko

AIT's terahertz sail starship Sephyr will reach its distant goal, Epsilon Eridani, in less than 25 years, according to Chief Launch Specialist Bjarni Hodd and Mimir, his AI design partner … and the return trip will be even shorter!

"We are very excited about this voyage. Epsilon Eridani is very similar to our solar system at its very beginnings, 4 billion years ago. The planets and protoplanets we have mapped from earth suggest we should learn an enormous amount about our own solar system, and possibly even about the beginnings of life itself!" says Hodd.

According to Hodd, three things make this mission possible. "First, Sephyr will have an all AI crew. We don't have to worry about life support, and we can use accelerations human bodies simply could not withstand (30g on departure and up to 100g in the braking burst).

Second, the AI crew allows us to use a very special kind of craft: a micrometer wave lightsail ship that's nearly all sail and almost no ship. This sail is made from 'sentient silk,' a metal-organic material developed right here on the moon, and it serves many purposes. Besides locomotion, the sail is also the cpu (and body) for the AI crew . . . not to mention acting as its own giant antenna.

And finally, getting home's a snap - you just beam back! Having a crew who can be transmitted as electromagnetic waves certainly makes the return journey simpler! Pluto station will be configured to receive the returned transmissions. "OK, the bandwidth isn't going to be quite up to Earthnet 42 standards," jokes Mimir, "but I don't think anyone's going to be all that concerned with playing hypergames. We'll be pretty busy enroute, and of course we aren't going to notice the upload time coming back!"

The crew expects to spend several years exploring the system, constructing at least some equipment from native materials.

Some stats about Sephyr's mission: Size of the sail: 30 km across Average thickness of sail: 0.08mm Mass of ship: 70 metric tonnes Power of hyperluminal antenna transmission: 2 PW Acceleration: 30 g

Artist's conception of Sephyr leaving the moon

Steps on the way (not shown to scale!)
Leave moon, burst of micrometer waves accelerates ship to half the speed of light in about a week:

Trip takes 22.3 years (19.3 years ship time)
Arriving at e Eridani, inner sail separates, outer sail's generators create terahertz wave burst to stop inner sail:

Crew explores system, builds reception station for follow-up teams. After establishing base and initial exploration, advance team "beams home" to Pluto station

Follow--up missions can beam directly to Eridani base!