--- title: Yuri Milner Project Plans to Use Lasers to Propel Probes description: New technology would use lasers to help a small device travel near the speed of light canonical: https://time.com/4292182/space-stars-yuri-milner/ author: Cubie King article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-04-13T17:30:36.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-03-30T12:05:16.011Z article:section: Science og:title: Inside the Plan to Send Tiny Probes to Explore Far-away Stars og:description: New technology would use lasers to help a small device travel near the speed of light og:url: https://time.com/4292182/space-stars-yuri-milner/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9ff936d0a49c806/69888ef4ab6d776af76a93c9/laser-sail.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Laser Sail og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Inside the Plan to Send Tiny Probes to Explore Far-away Stars twitter:description: New technology would use lasers to help a small device travel near the speed of light twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9ff936d0a49c806/69888ef4ab6d776af76a93c9/laser-sail.png?branch=production&width=1440&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Inside the Plan to Send Tiny Probes to Explore Far-away Stars by [Cubie King](/author/cubie-king/) and [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/) Apr 13, 2016 5:30 PM CUT  by [Cubie King](/author/cubie-king/) and [Justin Worland](/author/justin-worland/) Apr 13, 2016 5:30 PM CUT Reaching another star with [a human-built spacecraft](http://www.nytimes.com/2016/04/13/science/alpha-centauri-breakthrough-starshot-yuri-milner-stephen-hawking.html "undefined") has for decades seemed like a challenge as distant as, well, any far-off star humans might try to reach. But now [new technology](http://www.wired.com/2016/04/rich-dude-yuri-milner-wants-100-million-mph-laser-powered-satellites-much-ask/ "undefined") utilizing [small unmanned spacecrafts directed by lasers](http://fortune.com/2016/04/12/stephen-hawking-yuri-milner-breakthrough-starshot/ "undefined") could offer a path forward in the coming decades, scientists say. Astrophysicist Philip Lubin is one of those scientists. He’s developing wafer-thin crafts that will be guided through space by lasers that push the device close to the speed of light. The total travel time to Mars could be just a few days, Lubin says. The idea may sound like science fiction, but Lubin says recent advances make the project feasible. And he’s attracting the capital to test it. Russian billionaire Yuri Milner just [committed $100 million](http://www.wired.com/2016/04/rich-dude-yuri-milner-wants-100-million-mph-laser-powered-satellites-much-ask/ "undefined") in the hope that Lubin will be able to build a proof of concept. Watch the video above to learn more. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4292182/space-stars-yuri-milner/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4292182/space-stars-yuri-milner/"},"headline":"Inside the Plan to Send Tiny Probes to Explore Far-away Stars","datePublished":"2016-04-13T17:30:36.000Z","dateModified":"2026-03-30T12:05:16.011Z","description":"New technology would use lasers to help a small device travel near the speed of light","url":"https://time.com/4292182/space-stars-yuri-milner/","keywords":["space travel","Space"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9ff936d0a49c806/69888ef4ab6d776af76a93c9/laser-sail.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cubie King","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cubie-king/"},{"@type":"Person","name":"Justin Worland","jobTitle":"Senior Correspondent","url":"https://time.com/author/justin-worland/"}],"articleSection":"Science","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltc9ff936d0a49c806/69888ef4ab6d776af76a93c9/laser-sail.png?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"Laser Sail","caption":"","creditText":"","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/section/science/","name":"Science"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"/tag/space-travel/","name":"space travel"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":3,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4292182/space-stars-yuri-milner/","name":"Inside the Plan to Send Tiny Probes to Explore Far-away Stars"}}]}] ```