Imagine stepping onto a spacecraft knowing you will never come back to Earth. The ship, called Chrysalis, is designed to take 2,400 people on a one-way journey to our nearest star system — Alpha Centauri.
The distance is almost impossible to grasp: about 25 trillion miles (40 trillion kilometers). Even with advanced technology, the trip could last 400 years.
This means no one who boards will ever reach the destination. Instead, life will continue across many generations inside the spacecraft. Entire families would be born, live, and die among the stars.
Chrysalis was imagined as part of the Project Hyperion Design Competition, where engineers created a concept for a multigenerational ship able to sustain a closed society for centuries.
It’s only a thought experiment, not a real project. But it raises a fascinating question: would you accept such a mission — leaving Earth forever, with the hope that your descendants might one day set foot on another world?
