Amazing stuff! Science or science fiction? To use a large number of earth based lasers to propel an ultra light spacecraft to reach far away destinations is a quite an approach! This still seems to very early stage research or proof of concept research!
"... To achieve this, the Breakthrough Starshot program proposes a ground-based laser array to accelerate a gram-scale spacecraft through photon radiation pressure, requiring of order 100 GW of continuous wave optical power. The coherent combination of many lasers is one avenue to achieve a high optical power output. ..."
"... In the last decade and a half, rapid technological advances have opened up the possibility of light-powered space travel at a significant fraction of light speed. This involves a ground-based light beamer pushing ultra-light nanocrafts – miniature space probes attached to lightsails – to speeds of up to 100 million miles an hour. Such a system would allow a flyby mission to reach Alpha Centauri in just over 20 years from launch, beaming home images of its recently-discovered planet Proxima b, and any other planets that may lie in the system, as well as collecting other scientific data such as analysis of magnetic fields. ..."
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