LHS 1140b, a rocky exoplanet 48 light-years away, has renewed interest in whether future probes could inspect habitable-zone worlds up close rather than only by telescope.
10%-20%-of-light-speed concepts center on miniaturized spacecraft and light sails, which researchers say are easier and cheaper to accelerate than large vehicles for decades-long interstellar flybys.
Tens-of-gigawatts laser arrays could push meter-scale reflective sails to cruising speed within minutes, though the probes would likely streak through target star systems in only a few days without stopping.
Breakthrough Starshot has explored those technologies, while advances in smartphone-scale sensors and millimeter-scale 'smart dust' strengthen the case for tiny payloads.
Solar sails already tested in Earth orbit offer a nearer-term bridge, enabling propellant-free deep-space missions and unconventional trajectories across the solar system.