Zac Manchester worked on Breakthrough Starshot which is trying to get a laser pushed solar sail to another star system. (aka 4+ light years in a human lifetime). Here is a video where Zac talks about breakthrough Starshot.

The Kilometer Structures in Space Using Mechanical Metametarials

Concepts for rotating space habitats as a means for generating artificial gravity date back more than a century. However, humans suffer discomfort from exposure to rotation rates as low as 3 RPM. To produce artificial gravity near 1g at rotation rates of 1-2 RPM, a kilometer-scale structure is needed.

The core of Zac's solution is a high-expansion-ratio deployable structure (HERDS) built from mechanical metamaterials.

Specifically, they exploit two kinematic discoveries made in the last 5 years: shearing auxetics and branched scissor mechanisms. They intend to produce tube structures with an unprecedented 150x expansion ratio.

The Phase I NIAC study has demonstrated the viability of this approach and pointed us to several technical problems that must be addressed in Phase II.