Science From The In Situ Exploration Of Tthe Proxima Centauri System

In the future interstellar exploration at near-relativistic speeds will be possible using beamed energy laser propulsion.

With this, spacecraft as small as gm mass picospacecraft become candidates for the exploration of deep space, with a trade space of velocity and mission duration versus mass.

Here, we examine the potential science return from interstellar expeditions with Coracle laser-sail picospacecraft swarms and show how even with fast flybys at near relativistic velocities, a picospacecraft swarm could deliver gigapixel resolution of the target exoplanets.

Our mission target is the planet Proxima b in the habitable zone (HZ) of the red dwarf Proxima Centauri, the tertiary (and nearest) component of the nearest star system, alpha Centauri.

We explore science returns from such an expedition, both en route to Proxima and at the Proxima system, and conclude that initial small spacecraft expeditions would provide a substantial science return, including the ability to detect surface biology or a technological civilization, should either or both be established on the target planet.

Artist’s impression of a Coracle approaching Proxima b (and reflecting the light of Proxima Centauri). The 12,000- nm intra-swarm “Side Lasers” (see Subsection 6.3) are for intra-swarm probe-to-probe communications. Each round ring on the top (instrumentation) side of the sail visible here is the 200 mm annulus aperture of a folded optic camera (see Figure 6 and discussion) shared between imaging and communications with Earth at 432/539-nm. Conceptual artwork by Mark Garlick. (Note: Seeing other probes apparently nearby at encounter is artistic license!) — astro-ph.IM

T. Marshall Eubanks, Jean Schneider, Bruce Bills, W. Paul Blase, Andreas M. Hein, Pierre Kervella, Adam Hibberd, Robert G. Kennedy III, Manasvi Lingam, Philip Lubin, Philip D. Mauskopf, Thomas J. Mozdzen, Richard M. Scott, Slava G. Turyshev

Subjects: Instrumentation and Methods for Astrophysics (astro-ph.IM); Earth and Planetary Astrophysics (astro-ph.EP)
Cite as: arXiv:2604.20182 [astro-ph.IM] (or arXiv:2604.20182v1 [astro-ph.IM] for this version)
https://doi.org/10.48550/arXiv.2604.20182
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Submission history
From: T. Marshall Eubanks Mr
[v1] Wed, 22 Apr 2026 04:54:49 UTC (7,372 KB)
https://arxiv.org/abs/2604.20182

Astrobiology,