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Starcloud founders launch Fermi Explorer nonprofit to send 1-kilogram spacecraft toward Alpha Centauri in 2029

Confirmed1 source · Sep 1, 2026

The interstellar mission plans an 80,000-year journey using existing space technologies, a deliberate contrast to prior efforts requiring breakthrough propulsion systems.

Starcloud founders launch Fermi Explorer nonprofit to send 1-kilogram spacecraft toward Alpha Centauri in 2029
Image via TechCrunch

What happened

Fermi Explorer, a nonprofit founded by Starcloud leaders Philip Johnston, Adi Oltean, and Ezra Feilden along with program manager Garret Jameson, announced plans to launch a 1-kilogram spacecraft with a 10 cm square payload toward Alpha Centauri. The mission is budgeted at approximately $15 million and targeted for launch in 2029. The spacecraft will use proven electric propulsion to reach a series of orbits that eventually bind it for interstellar space, remaining active for about 12 years before entering a coast phase. The nonprofit is soliciting vendors, funding, and scientific and artistic payloads—modeled after NASA's Voyager probes. The journey is deliberately designed to take 80,000 years, allowing use of existing technologies rather than requiring new propulsion breakthroughs.

Context

The mission represents a strategic pivot from prior interstellar efforts: Breakthrough Starshot, founded in 2016 and backed by Yuri Milner and Mark Zuckerberg, collapsed in 2025 after proposing a multi-billion-dollar laser-based system to reach Alpha Centauri in 20-30 years. Fermi Explorer's founders cite this disappointment as motivation to launch something concrete within three years using available technology, accepting an 80,000-year timeline as the tradeoff. If successful, the spacecraft would be the first human-built object explicitly aimed at another star and the sixth to leave the solar system. The payload is designed for extreme durability—organizers compare its expected lifespan to fossilized remains—with the hope that future human civilization might intercept it.