Chrysalis spacecraft designed for interstellar colonization

A group of Italian engineers, social scientists, and architects has designed Chrysalis, a massive 58-kilometer-long cylindrical spacecraft intended to transport 2,400 passengers to the exoplanet Proxima b.

Developed as part of the ‘Project Hyperion Design Competition’, the vessel utilizes a multi-layered architecture similar to a Russian nesting doll. These concentric layers are designated for food production, forest bioconservation, community zones—including schools, hospitals, and libraries—industrial areas, and an outer storage ring. The ship would generate artificial gravity through constant rotation.

The planned journey to the Alpha Centauri system would take approximately 400 years. The design proposes a construction period of 20 to 25 years, utilizing robots for heavy labor and a governance model combining human oversight with artificial intelligence. Notably, the project does not rely on cryogenics for the long-duration voyage.