Fermi Explorer Mission adopts AI-generated solar perihelion trajectory for 1 kg Alpha Centauri probe at $15 million

Fermi Explorer Mission announced a 2029 launch targeting Alpha Centauri at 4.4 light years using a trajectory generated by Physical Superintelligence Get Physics Done software. The AI decomposed the problem into orbital simulations, ran one billion tokens across Claude and GPT models, and produced a sequence of solar close approaches where engine burns occur at peak solar flux to multiply thrust efficiency while keeping panels small. The $15 million private-funded craft carries artistic payloads and a Golden Record copy, explicitly rejecting Breakthrough Starshot laser propulsion timelines.

The non-peer-reviewed PSI paper claims fourfold solar irradiance gains per pass, yet omits quantitative delta-v budgets, radiation hardening data for repeated Mercury-distance approaches, and long-term solar panel degradation rates under 4x flux. Voyager 1 data shows 0.006c speeds cover less than 1 percent of the distance in 47 years; the new profile trades velocity for repeated gravity assists without addressing cumulative thermal cycling or attitude control precision at 0.3 AU.

Operational constraints favor minimal mass over transit time, diverging from Starshot's 20-year laser sail goal and Parker's Solar Probe documented 700 km/s perihelion performance. The approach reduces launch mass but shifts verification burden to untested autonomous engine sequencing across decades of coast phases.

Next milestone requires ground validation of the AI trajectory in 2026 JPL ephemeris software followed by component-level solar thermal vacuum testing before 2028 integration.