That would mean generations upon generations of human lifetimes, all lived out on board a rocket ship travelling across space, in the hope of a comfortable utopia waiting for us when we arrive.

Now, a team of researchers say they’ve demonstrated a form of light-driven propulsion that could one day get us to Alpha Centauri in 20 years.

A team of researchers at the J. Mike Walker ’66 Department of Mechanical Engineering at Texas A&M University say they’ve demonstrated lasers can be used to lift and steer objects without physical contact.