Parkin Research is proud to have led the systems engineering of Breakthrough Starshot, a historic program to send beam-driven sails to the Centauri System at 20% of light speed.
| 2016 – Breakthrough Starshot Announced | |
| 2018 – System model and 0.2 c mission point design published | Parkin, Kevin LG. “The breakthrough starshot system model.” Acta astronautica 152 (2018): 370-384. |
| 2019 – System model goes live in the cloud | System model and URL-encoded example point designs. |
| 2020 – Preliminary laser communication downlink analysis published | Parkin, Kevin LG. “A starshot communication downlink.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2005.08940 (2020). |
| 2022 – Cost-optimized laser lightsail mission performance maps published (covering 0.1 mg to 100 kt payload and 0.0001-0.99 c cruise velocity) | Parkin, Kevin LG. “Cost-optimal laser-accelerated lightsails.” arXiv preprint arXiv:2205.13138 (2022). |
| 2024 – Cost-optimized solar system and human mission performance maps published, including notional point designs for solar system precursor missions after 2035, and human missions to Alpha Centauri after 2050, Tau Ceti after 2530, and Trappist-1 after 2830. | Parkin, Kevin LG. “Starshot system model.” Laser Propulsion in Space, edited by Claude Phipps, 1st Edition – June 1, 2024. |