Whether it works or not it won’t let us reach the stars. It might get us to Mars.
Well, it will let us reach the stars if it works, but not in an efficient time span.
Personally I don’t believe any human that will ever exist will feel the light of an alien star on their skin.
The way progress works, once we can cost-effectively mine the resources of the asteroid belt, it will create demand for technology to explore the Oort cometary region. Mastery of that stage will create technology for the next.