A nonprofit called the Fermi Explorer Mission plans to launch a spacecraft to Alpha Centauri by 2029, with the help of an AI from Physical Superintelligence. The mission aims to reach our nearest star system, 4.4 light-years away, with a spacecraft that could take up to 80,000 years to arrive.

The AI system, called Get Physics Done, devised a novel trajectory that involves slowing the spacecraft near the sun and firing its engine during close passes to maximize solar energy. This approach will keep the solar panels small and the spacecraft lightweight.

While the mission is ambitious, it’s not the first to attempt interstellar travel. In 2016, Yuri Milner’s Breakthrough Starshot failed to launch, despite a $100 million pledge. The new mission, funded by private donors, is more focused on launching than on speed, with a $15 million budget and no constraints on the human lifetime.

Despite the long journey, the mission’s founders hope to send a spacecraft with a cargo of at least one kilogram, including artistic and scientific payloads and a copy of the Golden Record. The Fermi project is also a quest to answer Fermi’s famous puzzle: if intelligent life exists elsewhere, why haven’t we seen signs of it?