https://www.congress.gov/107/bills/hr2977/BILLS-107hr2977ih.pdf

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•HR 2977 IH
1 (2)(A) The terms ‘‘weapon’’ and ‘‘weapons sys
2 tem’’ mean a device capable of any of the following:
3 (i) Damaging or destroying an object
4 (whether in outer space, in the atmosphere, or
5 on earth) by—
6 (I) firing one or more projectiles to
7 collide with that object;
8 (II) detonating one or more explosive
9 devices in close proximity to that object;
10 (III) directing a source of energy (in
11 cluding molecular or atomic energy, sub
12 atomic particle beams, electromagnetic ra
13 diation, plasma, or extremely low frequency
14 (ELF) or ultra low frequency (ULF) en
15 ergy radiation) against that object; or
16 (IV) any other unacknowledged or as
17 yet undeveloped means.
18 (ii) Inflicting death or injury on, or dam
19 aging or destroying, a person (or the biological
20 life, bodily health, mental health, or physical
21 and economic well-being of a person)—
22 (I) through the use of any of the
23 means described in clause (i) or subpara24 graph (B);

https://breakthroughinitiatives.org/news/4

EXCERPT:

NTERNET INVESTOR AND SCIENCE PHILANTHROPIST YURI MILNER & PHYSICIST STEPHEN HAWKING ANNOUNCE BREAKTHROUGH STARSHOT PROJECT TO DEVELOP 100 MILLION MILE PER HOUR MISSION TO THE STARS WITHIN A GENERATION

$100 million research and engineering program will seek proof of concept for using light beam to propel gram-scale ‘nanocraft’ to 20 percent of light speed. A possible fly-by mission could reach Alpha Centauri within about 20 years of its launch.

Mark Zuckerberg is joining the board.

New York – Tuesday, April 12 – Internet investor and science philanthropist Yuri Milner was joined at One World Observatory today by renowned cosmologist Stephen Hawking to announce a new Breakthrough Initiative focusing on space exploration and the search for life in the Universe.

Breakthrough Starshot is a $100 million research and engineering program aiming to demonstrate proof of concept for light-propelled nanocrafts. These could fly at 20 percent of light speed and capture images of possible planets and other scientific data in our nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, just over 20 years after their launch.

The program will be led by Pete Worden, the former director of NASA AMES Research Center, and advised by a committee of world-class scientists and engineers. The board will consist of Stephen Hawking, Yuri Milner, and Mark Zuckerberg.

Ann Druyan, Freeman Dyson, Mae Jemison, Avi Loeb and Pete Worden also participated in the announcement.

Today, on the 55th anniversary of Yuri Gagarin’s pioneering space flight, and nearly half a century after the original ‘moonshot’, Breakthrough Starshot is launching preparations for the next great leap: to the stars.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Breakthrough_Starshot

EXCERPT:

Breakthrough Starshot is a research and engineering project by the Breakthrough Initiatives to develop a proof-of-concept fleet of light sail spacecraft named StarChip,^[1] to be capable of making the journey to the Alpha Centauri star system 4.37 light-years away.

A flyby mission has been proposed to Proxima Centauri b, an Earth-sized exoplanet in the habitable zone of its host star, Proxima Centauri, in the Alpha Centauri system.^[2] At a speed between 15% and 20% of the speed of light,^[3][4][5][6] it would take between twenty and thirty years to complete the journey, and approximately four years for a return message from the starship to Earth.

The conceptual principles to enable this interstellar travel project were described in “A Roadmap to Interstellar Flight“, by Philip Lubin of UC Santa Barbara.^[7][8]Sending the lightweight spacecraft involves a multi-kilometer phased array of beam-steerable lasers with a combined coherent power output of up to 100 GW.^[9]

https://au.finance.yahoo.com/news/startup-developing-100-gigawatt-laser-034000358.html

EXCERPT:

A startup is developing a 100-gigawatt laser to propel a probe to another star system. That may be powerful enough to ‘ignite an entire city.’