Black-hole mission could become reality with paperclip-sized nanocraft

Astrophysicist Cosimo Bambi from Fudan University has proposed a century-long mission to send a paperclip-sized, gram-scale nanocraft to a black hole located roughly 20 to 25 light-years from Earth. The probe would be propelled by powerful ground-based lasers pushing a light sail to about one-third the speed of light, enabling it to reach the target black hole in approximately 70 years, with an additional 20 years planned for data transmission back to Earth. The mission aims to test fundamental physics and general relativity by directly studying an isolated black hole, which would provide cleaner experimental conditions than Earth-based observations that rely on complex theoretical models. The mission faces significant challenges, including the difficulty of locating a sufficiently close black hole, as black holes emit no light and must be detected via their gravitational effects. If the nearest black hole is beyond 50 light-years, the mission becomes technologically unfeasible. Additionally, current technology does not yet support the creation of such a nan