They would travel trillions of miles; far further than any previous craft.
A $100m (£70m) research programme to develop the computer chip-sized “starships” was launched by the billionaire Yuri Milner, supported by Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg.
Interstellar travel has long been a dream for many, but significant technological hurdles remain.
But Prof Hawking told BBC News that fantasy could be realised sooner than we might think.
“If we are to survive as a species we must ultimately spread out to the stars,” he said.
“Astronomers believe that there is a reasonable chance of an Earth-like planet orbiting one of the stars [in] the Alpha Centauri system. But we will know more in the next two decades from ground based and space based telescopes.
“Technological developments in the last two decades and the future make it possible in principle within a generation.”
Prof Hawking is backing a project by Mr Milner’s Breakthrough Foundation, a private organisation funding scientific research initiatives that government funders think to be too ambitious.
Expert group
The organisation has brought together an expert group of scientists to assess whether it might be possible to develop spaceships capable of travelling to another star within a generation and sending information back.
The nearest star system is 40 trillion km (25 trillion miles) away. Using current technology it would take about 30,000 years to get there.
The expert group concluded that with a little more research and development it might be possible to develop spacecraft that could cut that journey time to just 30 years.
“I’d have said that even a few years ago travel to another star at that kind of speed would not be possible,” said Dr Pete Worden, who is leading the project. He is chairman of the Breakthrough Prize Foundation and a former director of Nasa’s Ames Research Center in California.
“But the expert group figured out that because of developments in technology there appears to be a concept that appears to work.”
The concept is to reduce the size of the spacecraft to about the size of a chip used in electronic devices. The idea is to launch a thousand of these mini-spacecraft into the Earth’s orbit. Each would have a solar sail.
Learn more: Hawking backs interstellar travel project
The Latest on: Interstellar travel
via Google News
The Latest on: Interstellar travel
- Science, And Its Limitations, Showcase The Need For Earth Dayon April 21, 2021 at 11:00 pm
If you want to understand our planet, the best way to go about it is scientifically: by asking the Earth questions about itself. Through the process of careful observation, measurement, and even ...
- New Horizons snaps photo of Voyager 1 from 11 billion miles awayon April 19, 2021 at 11:05 pm
NASA’s New Horizons currently has a lot of time on its hands as it coasts through vast emptiness towards interstellar space. The probe has just passed a new milestone distance on the journey, and ...
- New research: We won’t travel faster than light anytime soon, but we might be able to distort the flow of timeon April 19, 2021 at 2:50 pm
Faster-than-light travel remains a distant dream. But warp technology would be revolutionary in its own right.
- Voyage of the Interstellar Apes: A Q&A With Director Neil Burgeron April 19, 2021 at 2:37 pm
The new sci-fi thriller 'Voyagers' explores the complexities of carrying out a multi-generational interstellar journey.
- New Warp Drive Research Dashes Faster than Light Travel Dreamson April 19, 2021 at 1:40 am
One scientist explains why warp technology may have radical applications beyond space travel. Here's What You Need to Remember: Faster-than-light travel remains a distant dream. But warp technology ...
- New Warp Drive Research Dashes Faster-Than-Light Travel Dreams—but Reveals Stranger Possibilitieson April 18, 2021 at 7:00 am
New warp technology research says faster-than-light travel will remain out of reach for now. Still, warp technology would be revolutionary in its own right.
- Matthew McConaughey: How actor's wife 'injected' soccer into his bloodon April 16, 2021 at 6:29 pm
Before he became one of Hollywood's leading men, before the Oscar for best actor in 2014 and he went Interstellar on the silver screen, Matthew McConaughey was learning his craft and, in fact, ...
- Intriguing Warp Drive Research Dashes Faster Than Light Travel Dreams – But Reveals Stranger Possibilitieson April 16, 2021 at 2:58 pm
In 1994, physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed a radical technology that would allow faster than light travel: the warp drive, a hypothetical way to skirt around the universe’s ultimate speed limit by ...
- Movies To Watch If You Liked Inceptionon April 16, 2021 at 9:53 am
Christopher Nolan's 2010 sci-fi noir Inception is a dream movie (literally) for film buffs who love to have their minds bent by what they watch. But Inception will bend more than just your mind: It's ...
- Warp drive research: Stranger possibilities than faster than light travel foundon April 15, 2021 at 6:12 pm
ANALYSIS: In 1994, physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed a radical technology that would allow faster than light travel: the warp drive, a hypothetical way to skirt around the universe’s ultimate speed ...
via Bing News