NASA, Stephen Hawking working on 60,000 km/s 'nano-starship'
NASA researchers have joined forces with theoretical physicist Stephen Hawking to build a 'nano-starship' that can travel at 60,000 km/s, around one-fifth the speed of light. Among a number of options proposed, the ship could be designed as a self-healing silicon chip. If successful, the ship, called 'StarChip' could reach Earth's closest star system, Alpha Centauri, in around 20 years.