After all, besides the money itself, the big names attached to Breakthrough Starshot gave legitimacy to an endeavor that might otherwise have seemed fringe. But almost a decade later Breakthrough Starshot is conspicuously quiet. What remains is confusion among even scientists working on Breakthrough Starshot about the project’s status. The fact that most of the money never seems to have materialized means the case of Breakthrough Starshot isn’t necessarily one of waste. Back in 2009, seven years before Breakthrough Starshot began, Lubin attended a conference at the Naval Postgraduate School in Monterey, Calif.