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==Technical challenges==
Light propulsion requires enormous power: a laser with a gigawatt of power (approximately the output of a large nuclear plant) would provide only a few newtons of thrust. The spaceship will compensate for the low thrust by having to have a mass on the order of a gram. The camera, computer, communications laser, a plutonium power source, and (most problematically) the solar sail must be miniaturized to fit within a mass limit. All components must be engineered to survive extreme acceleration. Focusing a set of lasers totaling a hundred gigawatts onto the solar sail will be extremely difficult, due to atmospheric turbulence. In addition, it is not yet clear how the spacecraft could be protected from high-speed impacts with specks of dust in outer space. According to [[The Economist]], at least a dozen technologies will need to improve by orders of magnitude.<ref>{{cite news|title=A new plan to send spacecraft to the stars: replace rockets with lasers|url=http://www.economist.com/news/science-and-technology/21696876-interstellar-travel-means-thinking-both-very-big-and-very-small-new-plan|accessdate=13 April 2016|work=The Economist|date=12 April 2016}}</ref>
==See also==
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