Hawking joins bid to seek life with tiny spacecraft

STEPHEN Hawking has joined Mark Zuckerberg and a Russian billionaire with a futuristic plan for seeking life in outer space.

NEW YORK, NEW YORK - APRIL 12: Professor Stephen Hawking attends the New Space Exploration Initiative "Breakthrough Starshot" Announcement at One World Observatory on April 12, 2016 in New York City. Jemal Countess/Getty Images/AFP == FOR NEWSPAPERS, INTERNET, TELCOS & TELEVISION USE ONLY ==

AN internet investor has enlisted famed physicist Stephen Hawking and Facebook founder Mark Zuckerberg to help him with a futuristic plan for seeking life in outer space.

Yuri Milner announced the USD$100 million ($130 million) project overnight. It’s aimed at establishing the feasibility of sending a swarm of tiny spacecraft, each weighing only around 20 grams, to the Alpha Centauri star system.

Allies ... Yuri Milner and Stephen Hawking announce ‘Breakthrough Starshot’, a new space exploration initiative, in New York. Picture: Bryan Bedder/Getty Images for Breakthrough Prize Foundation

Powered by energy from a huge, Earth-based laser, the spacecraft would fly at about one-fifth the speed of light. Their target would be a planet with potential for holding life. No such planet has been discovered yet at Alpha Centauri, but experts say one may lurk there.

The spacecraft would take 20 years to reach the star system, where they would make observations and send back data.