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The Starship: What is it for anyway?
by Kelvin F. Long
A star is a distant stellar objective, burning nuclear reactions at its core, releasing fusion energy and radiating outwards across all matter and fields in its path. A ship is a vessel that will take passengers or cargo from A to B, from here to there or from there to here. So, you want to [...]
Defending the Interstellar Vision
by Paul Gilster
**This article was initially published for the Centauri Dreams blog** An interstellar movement has been brewing for the past sixty or so years among physicists and engineers who have taken a serious look at what it would take to get to the stars. Their work is not based on wishes but on physics, and while [...]
Tiffany Frierson Talks at the 100 Year Starship Conference
by admin
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 [...]
The Alpha Centauri Prize: Taking Volunteer Research To A New Level
by Kelvin F. Long
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 [...]
Starflight on the Cheap
by Adam Crowl
SpaceX have successfully orbited and re-entered their first fully operational Dragon Capsule, making it the first private re-entry… http://www.spacex.com/updates.php …good news for space access, one hopes. If Elon Musk & SpaceX can make good on their plans for a reusable 1st Stage, then the outlook for their Cheap Access To Space (CATS) ambitions is looking [...]
Interstellar Space Flight: Social and Economic Considerations
by Richard Obousy
Arguably one of the key factors in the decision to begin construction of an interstellar spacecraft will be the economics. Any interstellar space vehicle is likely to be astronomically expensive to build, and in all likelihood will cost tens, hundreds and possibly thousands of times more than even the International Space Station (ISS). Of course, [...]