A Fusion Starship Study

Terry Regan is ploughing ahead with his construction of the Daedalus model. He has been working on the Beryllium erosion shield, master computer and Liquid Hydrogen storage tank. Currently the model is 145 mm tall. Often a modeller would not want to reveal his work until it was all complete, but Terry is courageous enough to share the entire process with you. His next plan is to work on the second stage reaction chamber although he is going to leave the parabolic reflector until later. Stay tuned folks, this is sure to be an exciting journey as Terry builds the most modern model of Daedalus around today.

Keep going Starship Builder Tel!

Kelvin

Vice President (Europe) Icarus Interstellar

Recently, the Icarus team announced the launch of several new projects. We are very pleased to add another project to that growing list of interstellar research initiatives, helping to break the boundaries on what is possible. In particular, we should take guidance from the words of wisdom from the late science and science fiction writer Sir Arthur C. Clarke, who’s defined second law states:

“The only way of discovering the limits of the possible is to venture a little way past them into the impossible”.

Project Bussard, is a research project to investigate the physics and engineering issues associated with the Bussard interstellar ramjet. But before we define the scope of the project, let us first revisit history.

Interstellar Ramjet as imagined by Icarus Graphical Engineer Adrian Mann

[Read more →]

Whilst members of the Project Icarus Study Group are busy studying the vehicle configuration and engine design, it is important to visualise the vehicle when we can. Only three models of the Daedalus vehicle are known to exist and these are shown below. The first was built by Mat Irvine for the 1970s UK television program ‘Spaceships of the Mind’. Mat is one of the UK’s best model builders and his version was really excellent:

[Read more →]

I’m just back from a trip to New York courtesy of the National Geographic channel and Atlas media. They are making a documentary on interstellar flight and I am appearing/consulting for the film. I had done a few documentaries before but the professional team of Atlas, led by Bill McClane, took it to a new level. In particular, they were paying great care to try and get the science correct. When I got back, I was on the phone to another guy out in California making a movie on interstellar travel. Once again, he was taking great care to get the science correct. In an age of media hype, this is a rare quality and something to be encouraged by the scientists where possible. Its great experience for members of the Icarus team to get involved in these sorts of projects but it is also an important part of how we communicate the vision of interstellar travel. In effect, the media and the scientists are working co-operatively together, a good ingredient for the future.

[Read more →]

When researching technologies for communicating across long distances in space, books are invaluable. But free books are better!

I’ve found the DESCANSO book series from JPL to be invaluable. Hard copies are available, but if you’re happy reading PDFs you can download them right off the JPL site. These titles cover everything from bandwidth-efficient digital modulation to antenna arraying techniques, optical communications and software defined radio.

Thoroughly recommended!

The Icarus study is tasked with designing an interstellar space vehicle capable of making in situ scientific investigations of nearby stars. In an earlier article (http://news.discovery.com/space/project-icarus-target-exoplanet-star-110207.html) I discussed possible target stars for Icarus. Here, I describe some of the scientific motivations for this ambitious project. [Read more →]

JR Fleming Steampunk Interstellar - Richard Obousy

Many thanks to JR Fleming for her amazing Interstellar Steampunk work!

Check out more of JR’s work here:

JRFLEMING.COM

Following on from Kelvin’s post, here’s my steampunk image:

Now that’s an interstellar communications engineer!

Thanks to Richard Obousy for arranging this, and J.R. Fleming for the artwork.

We’re keeping a close eye on the Raspberry Pi, an ultra-cheap tiny computer, which is due to launch very soon. The release of this device will no doubt unleash many home projects, and the possibilities for using this board in space experiments are endless.

Together with the Arduino, which some of the Icarus team are very familiar with, we are building a great portfolio of hardware for hackers to try out their ideas on.

I’m a big fan of Leonardo da Vinci and recently I had the honour of visiting the Leonardo exhibit at the National Gallery in London. Although I had to queue for over four hours to get the tickets, the wait was truly worth it. I entered several rooms containing over 90 drawings and paintings by Leonardo or his apprentices. Leonardo is very famous for his many great paintings such as of ‘The Mona Lisa’ or ‘Portrait of a Woman’ or ‘Virgin of the Rocks’. But he is also famous for his many great investigations into science and engineering. What he achieved through the study of knowledge was the application of science to his art, making him one of the greatest artists that ever lived. I think it is at the fusion between the arts and the sciences where we come into our greatest. Many scientists such as Albert Einstein and Paul Dirac recognised that correct equations had a certain beauty or elegance about them, perhaps defined by their symmetry. Even the late Steve Jobs, founder of Apple, knew that the best way to create value in the twenty-first century was to connect creativity with technology, so he built an entire company from which the imagination could be combined with engineering, in a creative but useful way. [Read more →]

Well, I never thought I would get Steampunked, a gift from Icarus Interstellar President Richard Obousy who had the entire Board of Directors done recently. If you don’t know what steam punk is, here is a description:

——————————————
Steampunk

Steampunk is a sub-genre of science fiction, fantasy, alternate history, and speculative fiction that came into prominence during the 1980s and early 1990s.[1] Steampunk involves a setting where steam power is still widely used—usually Victorian era Britain or “Wild West”-era United States—that incorporates elements of either science fiction or fantasy. Works of steampunk often feature anachronistic technology, or futuristic innovations as Victorians might have envisioned them, based on a Victorian perspective on fashion, culture, architectural style, art, etc. This technology includes such fictional machines as those found in the works of H. G. Wells and Jules Verne, or the contemporary authors Philip Pullman, Scott Westerfeld and China Mieville.
——————————————

Thanks Richard, sweet revenge is on its way. The other Board of Directors may or may not share their images, but they are awesome.

Kelvin Long

Vice President (Europe) Icarus Interstellar

[artwork by JR Flemming]

When we think about Christmas, we all have our different perspectives on what it really means to us individually. For many its mainly an opportunity to share some valued time with the family and reflect on a busy year gone by. This experience is enhanced by the kindness we show to each other, often represented by the giving of presents. Although frequently over commercialized, the essential message is still there, that we show kindness and compassion to each other by the giving of treasured gifts and time. [Read more →]

“What a beautiful tree lined street.”

Not quite the sentiment typically associated with the pondering of interstellar travel or the early colonization of a neighboring planet. Yet despite the seemingly incongruent nature of such a thought, further examination may prove it to be quite relevant. More specifically, it is important to understand the underlying pretext which causes the design of an occupiable space to influence the mind, thus evoking a particular emotion. [Read more →]

When I attended the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop on November 28 & 29, I visited the AMSE museum that was adjacent to the hotel where the workshop was presented.
There was a very nice display on the ITER project being built in the South of France. Some pictures I took are shown. [Read more →]

Project Icarus was formed in September 2009 back in that little city called London, England. Since then we have grown to an international design team, formed our own non-profit Icarus Interstellar and now expanded our scope. [Read more →]

On September 30th, 2011, the 100 Year Starship conference was launched in Orlando Florida. For three days, scientists from universities, NASA centers and private institutions discussed ideas relating to interstellar exploration. Over 15 members of our nonprofit organization, Icarus Interstellar, attended the conference to deliver presentations relating to our areas of research interest. In this movie, our Student Designer, Tiffany is being interviewed by Hailey Bright, and explaining what she enjoys about being a part of Icarus Interstellar.

Dr. Ian Crawford, Design Lead for the Astronomical Target module for Project Icarus talks about the choice of target star system for an interstellar probe. Ian makes a strong case for full deceleration in the target system due to the much impoved scientific returns from an interstellar rendezvous mission.

Last Friday while in Los Angeles I was very fortunate to have scheduled a pre-arranged private tour of General Atomic’s DIII-k Tokamak Fusion Facility in San Diego California.
I was met by Richard Lee senior Scientist in overall charge of the Fusion Energy Education Group. He was kind enough to go above and beyond and insure that I had a complete understanding of their facility in the 2 hours we spent together. [Read more →]

Project Icarus is a theoretical design study for an unmanned interstellar probe based upon the historical BIS Project Daedalus. The main motivation for starting this project was (1) a designer capability exercise (2) to re-energize the field of interstellar studies (3) to inspire the public and national space agency mission planners to be bold in their proposals. The progress with Project Icarus to date suggests that the model has worked. Can the model of Project Icarus be replicated on a larger scale to incentivize progress in interstellar research? [Read more →]

Two years ago when we began forming the “Project Icarus” team, I think we all imagined we might be contributing to future efforts to develop interstellar probes, just as “Project Daedalus” did almost 40 years ago. Some might have hoped to see the beginnings of research programs dedicated to building the starships, but for myself I did not expect to see the beginning so soon. And that’s what I believe the 100 Year Starship Symposium represents. We are at the dawn of the Interstellar Age, just as the Space Age dawned back in 1957. Attending this amazing event has convinced me this is so. [Read more →]