A Giant Spaceship for a Long Trip to the Stars

A team of engineers has unveiled a bold plan for a massive spaceship, Chrysalis, designed to carry thousands of people on a one-way journey to Alpha Centauri, the nearest star system to ours. The ship aims to traverse an astonishing 25 trillion miles (40 trillion kilometers) over approximately 400 years.

The Journey and Destination

• Destination: Proxima Centauri b, a planet potentially capable of supporting life and similar in size to Earth.
• Generational Travel: Passengers would live and raise families aboard the ship for multiple generations before reaching their destination.
• Preparation: The first group would spend 70 to 80 years in Antarctica to acclimate to isolation before the journey.

The Spaceship Design

• Size: Approximately 36 miles (58 kilometers) long.
• Structure: Designed like Russian nesting dolls, with multiple layers:
• Innermost Layer: For growing food, including plants, animals, and insects.
• Middle Layers: Parks, schools, hospitals, and homes.
• Outermost Layer: Storage for resources, potentially managed by robots.
• Power Source: Nuclear fusion reactors (currently not commercially available).
• Technology: Artificial intelligence to manage the ship and its inhabitants, enhancing resilience and intergenerational cooperation.

Project Status and Future Implications

• Current Status: A conceptual design, not yet feasible with existing technology.
• Purpose: To inspire and guide future interstellar travel designs.
• Award: The team won Project Hyperion, a competition focused on multigenerational spaceships for interstellar travel.