Kelvin Long completed his Bachelors degree in Aerospace Engineering and Masters degree in Astrophysics at Queen Mary College, University of London. He is a Fellow of The British Interplanetary Society, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, Member of the American Institute Aeronautics & Astronautics, a Chartered Physicist and a Practitioner of The Tau Zero Foundation. He has published numerous articles and papers on various aspects of space travel. He is currently doing his Ph.D in Inertial Confinement Fusion.

Richard is the Primary Propulsion Design Lead for Project Icarus. Richard holds a Ph.D in theoretical physics with a focus on Casimir energy, dark energy and the stability of higher dimensions. He also holds a Masters degree in physics with space sciences and technology obtained from the University of Leicester in 1999. From 1999 to 2002, Richard worked for the United Kingdom government, researching SAR polarimetry. Richard is known for his interest in Warp Drive and the suggestion that a technological manipulation of extra dimensions might allow an advanced civilization to control the local dark energy density. He is a a Practitioner of The Tau Zero Foundation, and is a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society. He resides in Houston, Texas.

Andreas completed his Ph.D in Gravitation and Cosmology at Baylor University in 2009. His dissertation "Colliding Branes and Formation of Spacetime Singularities in Superstring Theory" holds remarkable implications for the study of black-holes in extra dimensions.He also holds an MPhys degree in Physics with Space Sciences and Technology. Andreas has held a variety of research positions including two research fellowships at JPL/NASA where he worked on the Galileo mission support team and also the Hubble Wide Fields and Planetary Camera team.He also served as a Graduate Technologist working on the LISA mission development team at Birmingham university in the UK. He currently holds the position Chief Scientist for Variance Dynamical Corp. He resides in Anchorage, Alaska.

Rob Adams is a study lead in the Advanced Concepts Office at the Marshall Space Flight Center. His main duties include organizing the efforts of teams of engineers to complete analyses of interest to NASA management. He led the Ares V integration study in 2008, bringing together the disparate efforts from four major centers under one banner. He led the team evaluating concept aircraft dropped launch vehicles for a joint NASA/Air Force study. He has lead a number of analyses for the Space Systems branch as well, including evaluating crewed missions to Mars. Dr. Adams is considered an expert on mitigation systems for defending the Earth against impacts with asteroids and comets. Dr. Adams also conducts analyses and research in the fields of advanced propulsion and mission analysis. He holds a Bachelor's and Master's degree in Mechanical Engineering from the University of Alabama at Birmingham, a Master's degree in Aerospace Engineering and a Doctor of Philosophy (Mechanical Engineering) degree from the University of Alabama in Huntsville, and is finishing a Master's degree in Nuclear Engineering from the University of Tennessee in Knoxville. Dr. Adams looks forward to the day where we are all out there exploring space.

Pat obtained his BEng in electronic and communication engineering from the University of Bath, and a BSc in physics from the Open University. He is a professional software engineer in the United Kingdom, and a member of the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics, as well as the IEEE, BCS and ACM. He maintains an active interest in a wide spectrum of technologies, from watches to starships. He also supports primate conservation, running the Friends of Monkey World site and forum.

Richard currently works as a Consultant to Reaction Engines Limited on Systems Engineering for the SKYLON spaceplane, as well as a Consultant to Airborne Engineering Limited on the STERN/STRICT hydrogen fuelled air
breathing rocket engines. He has an M.Sc in Remote Sensing (specialising in Martian surface analysis), a B.Sc (Hons) in Physics (specialising in Quantum Mechanics), and undertook research work for a Doctorate in Astrophysics
(specialising in stellar magnetohydrodynamics). He is a Chartered Physicist, Chartered Scientist, Fellow of the Royal
Astronomical Society, Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society, Member of the Institute of Physics, Member of the Royal Institution, and is currently serving on the Council of the British Interplanetary Society and has served on the UK Rocketry Association's Council for 11 years.

In the 1980s Rob Swinney completed his Bachelors degree in Astronomy and Astrophysics at the University of Newcastle Upon Tyne and his Masters in Radio Astronomy at the University of Manchester (Jodrell Bank).  Later he graduated from Cranfield University (then the Cranfield Institue of Technolgy) with a Masters degree in Avionics and Flight Control Systems.  After a rewarding career in the Royal Air Force as an Aerosystems Engineer (Avionics) Officer he completed his Commision in 2006 having attained the rank of Squadron Leader.  He is a Chartered Engineer registered with the UK's Engineering Council and a Member of the Institution of Engineering and Technology (previously known as the Institution of Electrical Engineers), and, of course, a British Interplanetary Society member.  Following several, more earth-bound projects, Rob joins the Icarus Project Team as a Floating Designer.

After receiving my master's degree in aerospace engineering at the Technische Universit at Munchen, I'm now doing my PhD at the same university in the area of space systems engineering at the Institute of Astronautics. During my studies, I participated in several mission studies: Lunar gravity measurement mission by EADS and a cubesat mission analysis. During my internship at ESA-ESTEC, I participated in the joint ESA/industry lunar architecture study of the human spaceflight division, applying different systems engineering methodologies like stakeholder analysis. I'm currently supervising a practical course on concurrent engineering of space systems at the institute of astronautics. The objective is to design an Earth observation mission. My particular interest is in the early phases of systems design (requirements engineering, functional analysis, concept design/trade offs)

After achieving my Bachelor's Degree in Aerospace Engineering at University of Applied Sciences Bremen, I am now studying Master of Aerospace Engineering at TU Munich. I already gained some practical experience in my field of studies during my internship at EADS Astrium Friedrichshafen where I was working on the mission LISA Pathfinder (Thermal Analysis and Control) and my Bachelor Thesis at EADS Astrium Bremen where I was working on a mission analysis for the NEXT Lunar Lander. Currently I am participating in REXUS 10, a European sounding rocket programme for university students, provided and supported by DLR, ESA and SSC.

Adrian is a technical designer and illustrator of engineering animations. He has comprehensive experience working for significant design agencies in the UK and a wide variety of book and magazine illustration projects. His illustrations of Daedalus are some of the most accurate to have been performed and he plans to turn this skill to the Icarus vehicle design once it begins to emerge

Adam was born in Bendigo, Victoria, Australia in 1970. His first memory of  TV is watching the BBC documentary on the "Viking" landings and (black & white) episodes of "Space 1999". At age 9 he learnt of a star-probe named "Daedalus", and was given a little book, "Road to the Stars" by Iain Nicholson. A teenage dream career in space-probe design suffered a few hiccups along the way - the "Challenger" disaster, going to University hoping to do Physics, but finishing a B.Sc in Psychology. Since
then Adam has retaught himself mathematics & physics, web-published polemics against Creationism, written an essay on SETI for the late Chris Boyce, and semi-completed an Engineering/Computing degree. Currently he is writing on a broad variety of interstellar & SETI topics while changing day-jobs.

Jim French graduated from MIT in 1958 as an ME with specialization in propulsion. He went to work for Rocketdyne and then TRW Systems working on all the main engines for the Saturn launch vehicles as well as the Lunar Module Descent Engine. He then spent 19 years at JPL working mostly on spacecraft and mission design and on space nuclear power. For the past 21 years, Mr.  French has been a private consultant serving various government agencies as well as industrial concerns. He has been integrally involved in the startup of several private companies, some of which are currently involved in commercial development of spaceflight.

Jordi L. Gutiérrez has a Ph. D. in Physics (astrophysics) by the University of Barcelona, and works on stellar evolution (specifically, on the mechanism of electron-capture triggered supernovae and on AGB stars).
He also has a M. Sc. in Remote Sensing. Currently he is professor of Aerodynamics, Space Systems Engineering, and Architecture of Nano and PicoSatellites at the aeronautics school of the Universitat Politècnica de Catalunya. He is actively working in small satellites development.

Robert Freeland was a member of the seventh graduating class from the North Carolina School of Science and Mathematics, where his instructors sparked a lifelong fascination with astrophysics and relativity. He then completed his Bachelors degree in Physics from the University of North Carolina at Chapel Hill, where he was both a James M. Johnson and National Merit Scholar. Robert promptly entered the field of computers, first as a network engineer at the investment banking firm of Alex Brown & Sons, then as a project lead for client-server application development at the pharmacy benefit management firm of Express Scripts. In 1995, Robert co-founded Interactive Financial Services, which was subsequently acquired by Intuit. As CTO and Vice President of Strategic Planning at Intuit Insurance Services, Freeland designed and managed the development of the Web's first interactive insurance marketplace, and structured relationships with technology and business partners to facilitate the company's rapid expansion. After leaving Intuit, Robert co-founded Podtrac, the first (and now leading) company to offer advertising opportunities to publishers in the fledgling podcasting space. Robert currently resides in Tampa, Florida and serves as Podtrac's CTO.
 
Robert started programming at the age of 15 using BASIC and assembly on a TI99/4A. He soon branched out to the Commodore 64, Apple IIc, and IBM PC. At 17, he developed his first commercial software using PASCAL on a PC/XT. Two years later, he landed a summer job at IBM writing software on a PC/AT in REXX to test IBM's VTAM telecommunications software. Robert has since developed software commercially in C, C++, C#, PowerBuilder, Visual Basic, Oracle, SQL Server, MySQL, and Javascript. He hopes to bring some of these talents to bear on the development of an Icarus mission simulation.

Ian Crawford is an astronomer turned planetary scientist, and is currently Reader in Planetary Science at Birkbeck College, London (http://www.bbk.ac.uk/es/) . He is presently also Geophysical Secretary of the UK’s Royal Astronomical Society (http://www.ras.org.uk/ . The main focus of his research is in the area of lunar exploration, including the remote sensing of the lunar surface and the laboratory analysis of lunar samples. Ian also has strong interests in the new science of astrobiology, the study of the astronomical and planetary context of the origin and evolution of life. He is a strong advocate for the renewed human exploration of the Moon, the eventual human exploration of Mars, and the development of a spacefaring infrastructure within the Solar System which will one day make interstellar travel a practical undertaking. A more detailed summary of interests, and list of publications, can be found on his personal website at: http://www.ucl.ac.uk/~ucfbiac/.

Brandon Vernon is a student at Red Mountain High School in Mesa, AZ, graduating spring 2011.  He is planning on majoring in physics at Arizona State University and then moving on to get a Masters and PhD.  He loves physics and engineering and is fascinated by the possibilities of interstellar travel.  He is especially interested in the more exotic methods such as warp drives.  He has three years of high school level engineering experience through Project Lead The Way(PLTW) and ASU's Prime the Pipeline Project(P3).  He has also done bioengineering research on using carbon nanotubes to increase antibiotic elution from bone cement.  He will be researching the feasibility of using Fresnel zone antennas for interstellar communication during the summer of 2010.

Tiffany Frierson is a senior physics major currently at North Georgia College. She plans to go on to a PhD in Theoretical Physics, and study Breakthrough Propulsion Physics, especially the more exotic methods including wormholes and warp drives. With a life-long interest in space travel, her activities have included a speech at Boston University's 50-Year Space Vision conference in 2007, whose attendants included Freeman Dyson, John Mather and Russell Schweickart. Tiffany programs in C++, C#, Java and Python. She currently resides in Georgia, USA.

Marc has been with NASA's Glenn Research center since 1982. In addition to his more conventional engineering assignments that have included designing guidance displays for aircraft low-gravity trajectories, ion thrusters, monitoring systems for rocket engines, and cryogenic propellant delivery systems, he has researched possibilities for creating propulsion breakthroughs. As a part of this research, he forged collaborations with other researchers across the nation to create the NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project. He managed this Project from 1996 through 2001, and has recently stepped down from Project Management to return to conducting research. Marc earned a degree in Physics from Georgia Tech in 1982. He is also a graduate of the 1998 International Space University Summer Program. In his free time, he builds, photographs and writes articles on scale models.

"The quest for interstellar flight requires many different approaches, spanning the seemingly simple solar sail to the seemingly impossible warp drive.  Project ICARUS is between these extremes, taking a detailed, rigorous look at the edge of projected technology in the context of a realistically demanding interstellar mission.  It is a sequel to the seminal 1978 "Project Daedalus" of the British Interplanetary Society that injected a much-needed dose of reality into what was previously loose speculation on interstellar probes.  Over the decades since Daedalus, there has not been a genuinely detailed re-assessment of what is possible with foreseeable technology - when pushed to its limit.  Absent of such an assessment, it is difficult to realistically project what might be possible, when it might become possible, and how much it will take to make it possible.  Such a sanity check will put a dose of reality back into loose speculations of interstellar travel options.  Also, with such substance behind its visions, it will give students reliable starting points from which to make the required advancements in their careers.

I applaud the volunteer efforts of Kelvin Long who initiated this study as a joint project between the Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society.  I also applaud those who have joined Kelvin - many of which participated in the original Project Daedalus! Ad astra incrementis - where this detailed engineering assessment is a firm step in the right direction.  Bravo!"    - Marc Millis

Paul Gilster is a full-time writer who focuses on space technology and its implications. He is one of the founders of the Tau Zero Foundation and now serves as its lead journalist. Created by Marc Millis, this organization grew out of work begun in NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics program, and now seeks philanthropic funding to support research into advanced propulsion concepts for deep space missions. Gilster is the author of seven books, including Digital Literacy (John Wiley & Sons, 1997) and Centauri Dreams: Imagining and Planning for Interstellar Flight (Copernicus, 2004), a study of the technologies that may one day make it possible to send a probe to the nearest star. He tracks developments in interstellar research from propulsion to exoplanet studies on his Centauri Dreams Web site. In past years, he has contributed to numerous technology and business magazines, and has published essays, feature stories, reviews and fiction in a wide range of publications both in and out of the space and technology arena. Forthe last twenty-one years, he has written the weekly "Computer Focus" column, which appears in The News & Observer (Raleigh, NC). A graduate of Grinnell College (IA), Gilster put in six years of graduate work at UNC-Chapel Hill, specializing in medieval English literature, before going into commercial aviation and, eventually, writing.


"The original Project Daedalus produced the first comprehensive study of starship design, a remarkable document exploring the technologies needed to reach Barnard's Star within the lifetime of a researcher. The spirit of investigation that drove the Daedalus planners was applied to tools that are now much more advanced than when the study began. Project Icarus wisely looks to extend the Daedalus project by beginning with many of the same assumptions and determining what has changed in the intervening decades, so that we get an up-to-date view of the enabling technologies. Just as Daedalus was never intended as a practical mission but rather an exercise in mission and systems definition, so Icarus will extend these definitions and help us see connections between the many different technologies that can be applied for such an epic journey. I strongly endorse the adventurous plans of the Project Icarus team and believe that the work that results will be a solid contribution to interstellar studies, one that moves the long-term goal of practical interstellar flight forward. Studies like these tell us much about our own capabilities, but also outline for us a rational and hopeful way to proceed toward staggeringly difficult but achievable goals."   - Paul Gilster

Dr. Greg Matloff, FBIS, is a leading expert in possibilities for interstellar propulsion and is a tenured astronomy professor with the physics department of New York City College of Technology, CUNY, a consultant with NASA Marshall Space Flight Center, a Hayden Associate of the American Museum of Natural History and a Corresponding Member of the International Academy of Astronautics. He co-authored with Les Johnson of NASA and C Bangs Living Off the Land in Space (2007) and has authored Deep-Space Probes (2000 and 2005). As well as authoring More Telescope Power (2002), Telescope Power (1993), The Urban Astronomer (1991), he co-authored with Eugene Mallove The Starflight Handbook (1989). His papers on interstellar travel, the search for extraterrestrial artifacts, and methods of protecting Earth from asteroid impacts have been published in JBIS, Acta Astronautica, Spaceflight, Journal of Astronautical Sciences, and Mercury. His popular articles have appeared in many publications, including Analog. In 1998, he won a $5000 prize in the international essay contest on ETI sponsored by the National Institute for Discovery Science.

"Interstellar travel is the greatest technical challenge that the human race has ever faced. In order for it to succeed, concepts should be periodically renewed and enhanced. Project Icarus in the the BIS tradition of Project Daedalus. It should increase interest in the interstellar option and allow a new generation of enthusiasts to contribute."  - Greg Matloff

Dr. Tibor Pacher (born in Hungary 1960). Trained as a PhD physicist (Heidelberg 1991 s.c.l.), he works since 1999 as a freelancer for Management and Financial Accounting processes and their support by software systems (www.peregrinus.net). During his academic career he worked on different topics of General Relativity, Cosmology and Quantum Chemistry as well as on ESA's Infrared Space Observatory (ISO) mission. 2006 he initiated the organisation "peregrinus interstellar", dedicated to the topic of interstellar travel www.peregrinus-interstellar.net - The PI Club. Tibor also runs the projects Faces from Earth - www.faces-from-earth.net, with focus on creating interstellar message artefacts, to be carried on future deep space missions, and MiniSpaceWorld, aiming at the creation of a big lively scale model layout for Spaceflight and Astromomy.

"Reaching for the stars is one of the most exciting challenges humans can imagine, and it is always fascinating to see fellow citizens embarking on such inspiring endeavours. This is especially true in hard times like ours, when our civilization is facing unprecedented challenges: diminishing resources, wars and poverty, changing climate to mention but a few. Project Icarus gives us with its volunteer international collaboration model a strong positive signal for a better future as well and I sincerely hope that its inspirational power helps to reinforce our youth's interest in deep space exploration as well as in STEM - Science, Technology, Engineering, Mathematics - in general.

Hats off to Kelvin and the entire Icarus Crew for their great effort!" - Tibor Pacher