The nearest star system to Sol and the designated destination of The Ark, the crowdfunded O’Neill cylinder generational ship announced in 2130. The Ark’s planned ~100-year transit to Alpha Centauri, carrying a minimum of 100,000 passengers, represents the first planned interstellar human migration. No probes, crewed missions, or remote observations of the Alpha Centauri system had been conducted as of the Ark’s 2147 hull sighting.