Starshot is a cloud of tiny multifunction chips called StarChips, each attached to a so-called light sail. The sail would be so insubstantial that when hit by a laser beam, called a light beamer, it would accelerate to 20 percent of the speed of light. At 4.37 light-years away, Alpha Centauri would take the fastest rocket 30,000 years to reach; a StarChip would get there in 20. On arrival the chips would not stop but rather tear past the star and any of its planets in a few minutes, transmitting pictures that will need 4.37 years to return home. ~ Ann Finkbeiner