A bold new step for humanity could be a journey not to the Moon or Mars, but to an entirely new star system.
This is the Chrysalis Project, an award-winning design for a hypothetical starship that could carry up to 2,400 people to Alpha Centauri—our closest stellar neighbor.
The ultimate goal would be to reach and settle on the potentially habitable exoplanet Proxima Centauri b.
However, the one-way trip would reportedly take around 400 years due to the immense distance.
Because of the incredible duration, many of the passengers would live their entire lives aboard the spacecraft without ever knowing what life on our planet is like.
The sci-fi-like project took home the top prize in the Project Hyperion Design Competition, a contest for designing hypothetical multigenerational ships for venturing into deep space.
“The generational spaceship Chrysalis is named after the intriguing possibility of having a spaceship capable of keeping its inhabitants safe and united, generation after generation, until they arrive in the new solar system,” the mission pitch noted.
Multi-generational ship with all facilities
The proposed “cigar-shaped,” multi-generational ship would roughly measure around 36 miles (58 km). Constant rotation would create artificial gravity, allowing life to thrive inside it.
Before the journey, the first generations of passengers would live in an isolated environment in Antarctica for 70 to 80 years to prepare for life on the ship.
The interstellar spacecraft would take 20 to 25 years to build – or even more.
As per the pitch deck, the Chrysalis spacecraft is planned to be built at the L1 Lagrangian point of the Earth-Moon system. This location is ideal because it may allow the project to access the Moon and Earth resources.
“L1 is also ideal as a launch point for a massive spacecraft several kilometres in length, to avoid the stresses caused by differential gravitational effects on the structure when placed in orbit too close to the Earth or Moon,” it explained.
Designed like a Russian nesting doll, the giant spacecraft would be a complete ecosystem with different layers.
At its core, it’s a series of self-contained worlds, each with a specific purpose.
It would have spaces for farms, gardens, homes, warehouses, and other shared facilities, each powered by nuclear fusion reactors.
In the innermost core, shuttles wait, ready to deliver passengers to their final destination: Proxima Centauri b.
The next layer will be about survival. Here, food production is a science, with controlled environments that could nurture everything from crops to livestock. The designers even included different biomes, like tropical and boreal forests, for potential preservation of biodiversity.
Beyond that, it would also host the heart of the community: parks, schools, hospitals, and libraries.
The outer shells house the homes, industries, and warehouses.
Just a concept as of now
With a journey lasting multiple lifetimes, population control is key. Births would be carefully planned to maintain a sustainable population of around 1,500 people, ensuring resources last for the entire voyage.
To govern this complex society, humans would collaborate with advanced artificial intelligence. This partnership would ensure stability and pass down vital knowledge between generations.
Projects like Chrysalis, despite being theoretical and requiring yet-to-be-developed technology, are valuable for their role in pushing the boundaries of what’s possible.
They serve as a blueprint to shape a future that we can only dream of right now.