interstellar travel

As speculation about a possible Earth-like exoplanet around our sun's nearest neighbor reaches fever pitch, the European Southern Observatory says there will be an announcement on Wednesday.

All of the books ever written, the genetic blueprint for human life and much of the other information that defines us as a species could soon be riding laser beams toward faraway exoplanets.

Here are the biggest challenges Stephen Hawking and others on the Breakthrough Starshot team will have to overcome to make interstellar spaceflight a reality.

Laser-propelled probes designed to search for signs of life around nearby stars will also likely hunt for aliens on Saturn's moon Enceladus and other objects within Earth's own solar system.

Yuri Milner and astrophysicist Stephen Hawking announced Breakthrough Starshot, a new space exploration initiative, on April 12, 2016, in New York City.