Science has always loved outrageous challenges, but this one might top the list: sending a spacecraft no bigger or heavier than a paperclip straight toward a black hole. The idea comes from astrophysicist Cosimo Bambi of Fudan University in China, who believes it could unlock some of the most profound mysteries in the cosmos—including fresh insights into Einstein’s general theory of relativity.
Right now, the technology doesn’t exist. “In 20 or 30 years, maybe it will,” Bambi says. In the journal iScience, he lays out an audacious plan that could, if realized, take more than a century from start to finish.
Here is the region of space in which a black hole would have to be found, which could then be studied by a miniature spacecraft. © NASA Goddard, Adler, University of Chicago, Wesleyan
The century-long plan
Step one: discover a black hole close enough to reach. In theory, one could be just 20 to 25 light-years away, and Bambi thinks we might find it within the next decade.
From there, the timeline gets daunting: twenty years to develop the right spacecraft technology, about 70 years for it to make the trip, and another twenty for the data to beam back to Earth.
The probe wouldn’t be a bulky spaceship. It would weigh just a few grams, with a sail to catch photons from massive Earth-based lasers, pushing it to one-third the speed of light—fast enough to make the journey in a human-relevant timespan.
What we could learn
Once in the extreme environment near a black hole, the tiny probe could gather unprecedented measurements, testing whether the laws of physics behave differently under such conditions.
The catch? We can’t yet build a probe like this, and the laser system alone would cost around $1 trillion at current prices.
Still, Bambi remains optimistic. “Fifty years ago, people thought we’d never see the shadow of a black hole,” he notes. “Now we have two images.” For him, what sounds impossible today could be the headline discovery of tomorrow.
Nathalie Mayer
Journalist
Born in Lorraine on a freezing winter night, storytelling has always inspired me, first through my grandmother’s tales and later Stephen King’s imagination. A physicist turned science communicator, I’ve collaborated with institutions like CEA, Total, Engie, and Futura. Today, I focus on unraveling Earth’s complex environmental and energy challenges, blending science with storytelling to illuminate solutions.
