Interstellar Travel: Fusion Propulsion, Laser-Driven Starships, and the Engineering of Generation Ships

Introduction: Strategic Context — From Deep-Space Exploration to Interstellar Civilization Interstellar travel represents one of the most demanding challenges in aerospace engineering. The nearest stellar system, Alpha Centauri, lies approximately 4.37 light-years from Earth, while Proxima Centauri—the closest star to the Sun—is about 4.24 light-years away. At the velocities achieved by conventional spacecraft, reaching these…