May 14, 2018 updates Posted on May 14, 2018June 28, 2020 by Doug Loss Project Dragonfly: Sail to the stars https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576517319136 Nanophotonic light sails for relativistic spaceflight by high-power laser beams https://www.osapublishing.org/abstract.cfm?uri=CLEO_QELS-2018-FF1H.6 Materials challenges for the Starshot lightsail https://www.nature.com/articles/s41563-018-0075-8 Propulsion system (possibly applicable to interstellar missions) https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/ef/c8/ad/19693f1eed3a8e/US20180106219A1.pdf Interplanetary spacecraft using fusion-powered constant-acceleration thrust (possibly applicable to interstellar missions) https://patentimages.storage.googleapis.com/7f/1d/76/adc5d2c41b2ea6/US20180105292A1.pdf House spending bill could brighten prospects for two giant telescopes https://www.sciencemag.org/news/2018/05/house-spending-bill-could-brighten-prospects-two-giant-telescopes The Evo-SETI unit of evolution is EE = Earth evolution = 25.575 bit https://www.sciencedirect.com/science/article/pii/S0094576517316491 Two Thousand Kepler Phase Curves from Phasma https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.04121 Exoplanet recycling in massive white-dwarf debris discs https://arxiv.org/abs/1805.04429