Riding the Light

[Opening with cosmic synths building to crushing industrial guitars] [Verse] Carbon atoms locked in perfect hexagons Graphene sheets just atoms thick but stronger than steel! Two percent absorption climbing layer by layer Until we catch the photons, make the cosmos real! 4900 Kelvin burning through the void While aluminum melts, we're still deployed! Phased array lasers, kilometers wide Tonight we ride the light, nowhere to hide! [PRE-CHORUS: Rising power] Power stays behind us, mass stays small Einstein's dream, we're defying it all! The equation's simple: F equals P over C But the journey's epic - FOLLOW ME! [CHORUS: Explosive, anthemic] RIDING THE LIGHT! At half the speed of forever! Graphene sails and laser might! Nothing can sever! 0.5c through the stellar night! Physics bends to our endeavor! RIDING THE LIGHT! To the stars and beyond! [VERSE: Faster, more intense] Solar cells and VCSELs in formation flight Active Fresnel lens bending space and light! Not thousands of kilometers of passive mass But smart arrays that watch us as we pass! From Venus orbit launching toward the void 1000 kilograms accelerated! Hundred-g forces, payload screaming loud While photon pressure gets us activated! [BRIDGE: Epic, soaring] Alpha Centauri calling through the dark Four light years feels like a walk in the park When you're moving at 150,000 kilometers per second The universe itself gets reckoned! Ten to the nineteenth joules! Burning through the cosmic rules! Relativistic time dilation! This is our stellar salvation! [VERSE: Maximum intensity] Station-keeping satellites defining space Micro-mirrors steering with precision grace! The transmitter's massive, 2000 ISS But the payload's flying, limitless! Red-shifted photons as we gain more speed Force equals P over C is all we need! Carbon nanotubes holding payload tight While we surf the electromagnetic might! [FINAL CHORUS: cosmic crescendo] RIDING THE LIGHT! At half the speed of forever! Breakthrough Starshot's ancient dream! Now and never! Interstellar highways bright! Engineering pure and clever! RIDING THE LIGHT! The future starts tonight! [OUTRO] [Soaring guitar solo over cosmic soundscape] Distance equals 4 r R over 2.44 lambda... Cutoff at thousands of AU... Relativistic corrections as we climb... Humanity's first step into space-time... Graphene! Pure carbon! Atomic perfection! Light-sail! Star-bound! Cosmic resurrection! [Fade to the sound of distant pulsars]