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Starshot (or Breakthrough Starshot) is a speculative initiative to develop a mission to fly space probes by Alpha Centauri. (It is one of the Breakthrough Initiatives, projects in the area of SETI and astrobiology.) A fleet of very small (centimeter-sized) craft (StarChips) would be propelled by ground-based lasers. The initiative began in 2016, aiming to reach (ideally) 20% of the speed of light, potentially reaching the system in 20 years. Since communication home would be light-speed, it would take four additional years before data was received at Earth. In 2017, tiny satellites (given the name Sprites), were deployed to test the concept of centimeter-sized spacecraft.