- Speed β
- 0.000 c
- Lorentz γ
- 1.0000
- Doppler ahead D
- ×1.000
- Sky ahead
- 50.0%
- Trip at this speed
- ∞
Speed of Light Exit Velocity
4.34 light‑years.
One lifetime.
SoLeV is developing an antimatter photon drive to send an uncrewed probe to Alpha Centauri, and to bring its first pictures home while the people who launched it are still here to see them.
About 41 trillion kilometers to Alpha Centauri A and B, the nearest Sun-like stars.
A photon drive's exhaust leaves at the speed of light: an ideal specific impulse of 30.6 million seconds. The Space Shuttle's main engines managed 452.
Annihilation turns all of its fuel's mass into energy. Fusion manages under half a percent.
Earth to Alpha Centauri at a steady fifth of light speed, then 4.34 years for the first pictures to reach home.
01/ The mission
Our nearest stars, within one lifetime.
Alpha Centauri is a triple system: two Sun-like stars, A and B, and a red dwarf, Proxima, with an Earth-mass planet in its habitable zone. Even the fastest spacecraft ever flown would need thousands of years to get there. SoLeV exists to close that gap to decades.
- 01MissionWhy Alpha Centauri, and why it has to happen within a lifetime.
- 02TechnologyThe physics of a photon drive, the SoLeV design and the four ways to aim a gamma ray.
- 03Flight planPick a speed and a probe. See when the first pictures would come home.
- 04RoadmapThe six hard problems, and the phases that take them on.
- 05TeamWho's behind SoLeV, where it started, and who we're looking for.
Join/ The mission
Help us get there in our lifetime.
We are gathering physicists, engineers, and backers who want to see another star system up close. Get mission updates, or tell us how you'd like to help.