Icarus Interstellar
Icarus Interstellar is an international organization dedicated to technical achievements enabling interstellar travel. Research is performed by volunteer citizen scientists with a wide swath of backgrounds, ranging from NASA and ESA aerospace engineers to professional scientists, university professors, students, science fiction writers, artists, thinkers and enthusiasts.
Design teams were coordinated around research projects with a central theme, such as Project Icarus, an interstellar probe design study envisioning the design of a mainly fusion propulsion based engine, and Project Hyperion, a human occupied worldship (interstellar migration ship) study. No project updates have been reported on the website since 2015.
Organizationally, Icarus is a registered in Alaska, February 2011. The organization was created from members of Project Icarus, initiated in September 2009 in an effort to explore multiple interstellar spacecraft systems simultaneously.
History
Icarus Interstellar was founded by Andreas Tziolas, Richard Obousy, Kelvin Long, Pat Galea and Adam Crowl, all members of the original Project Icarus study group. In an interview, Tziolas stated that the project name was chosen both due to a hint from Daedalus project leader Alan Bond and as a result of a "reshaped" mythos in which Icarus lands on an island and plans to forge steel wings to replace his father's wax wings.
Icarus Interstellar's initial mission statement read as follows:
With its hundred-year scale, Icarus seeks to select as destination a star like Alpha Centauri within a radius of 15 light years, or a potentially habitable terrestrial planet if discovered within a radius of 22 light years.
Icarus Interstellar fiscally sponsored the foundation of the Anchorage Makerspace in December 2013, as an open source community-driven space and technical innovation research lab.
Projects
Icarus Interstellar launched several projects all relating to the exploration of space, although most projects have not been updated since 2015. The launched projects include:
*Project Icarus, launched in September 2009 by Kelvin Long and Richard Obousy. Project Icarus is a five-year theoretical design study for a fusion based starship. It starts from the original 1970s Project Daedalus study conducted by members of the British Interplanetary Society. Project Icarus is the flagship project of Icarus Interstellar, being its first design study.
*Project Tin Tin, an Icarus Interstellar initiative to create a CubeSat interstellar probe. Through research into the sustainable environments necessary to sustain an entirely self-contained worldship, Dr. Armstrong hopes to also improve life in cities on Earth. Project Persephone is a research project conducted by Icarus Interstellar, the University of Greenwich, and others. A cylindrical ship 20 km long and 5 km in diameter, with simulated gravity, has been proposed with an ecosystem that can sustain 50 to 500 people. Synthetic soil "grown specifically for that particular environment" has been proposed, with burrows for human habitation.
*Project Bifrost, launched in December 2011, by Tabitha Smith. The Icarus Interstellar Nuclear Space Technology (NST) and Propulsion Development Program operates with long-term goals of tangible deliverables in mind, such as (1) partnership with the United States government and other vital members of the NST community, (2) the creation of nuclear engines (thermal (NTR) and/or electric) and (3) proof of concept for NTR engines and building the foundation for evolving nuclear propulsion.
*Project Helius, launched in August 2011, by Richard Osborne and Kelvin Long. Project Helius has the purpose of building prototype pulsed propulsion demonstrators to test elements of the Daedalus (or other) architecture. The main areas of study are currently focused on the tracking of pellets and the timing of laser devices.
*Project Voyager, launched in summer of 2014, by Zachary Fejes. Project Voyager surrounds the development of interplanetary and interstellar scale mission planning, analysis, and simulation software.
Icarus Interstellar also researches communications methods such as point-to-point laser, use of abandoned fuel tanks as relay stations, or use of moderated fusion pulses to code as signal communications. As the theory is somewhat speculative at this stage, these experiments are designed to test the theory at a fundamental level to determine whether it is consistent with real physics.
Conference
Icarus Interstellar hosted Starship Congress, an international assemblage of recognized interstellar space proponents, in Dallas, Texas, August 15 to 18, 2013. In April 2013, Icarus Interstellar announced a call for papers, with papers from selected presenters to be published in a special edition of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. Starship Congress spanned four days, each with a different focus. Day One was dedicated to "Near Future - The Next 20 Years." Day Two focused on "Mid-Future Interstellar Flight - 20-50 years". Day Three covered "Deep Future Interstellar Flight - 50-500+ years". Day Four included a final assembly with closing announcements, thanks, and a recap. Starship Congress was attended by nearly 200 interstellar scientists, engineers, astronomers, historians, economists, architects, artists, anthropologists and enthusiasts.
Starship Congress 2015, was hosted at Drexel University on September 4 and 5, 2015.
Bibliography
The Icarus Interstellar team includes established scientists that have published numerous articles in a wide range of peer-reviewed scientific journals. A significant number of scientific articles have resulted from the Icarus Project itself, and have been published in peer-reviewed journals under the flag of Icarus Interstellar. These include:
From 2011 to 2013, the following other articles by Icarus Interstellar members were published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society:
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*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
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* Project Icarus - Flying Closer to Another Star - A Technical Update and Progress Review
Design teams were coordinated around research projects with a central theme, such as Project Icarus, an interstellar probe design study envisioning the design of a mainly fusion propulsion based engine, and Project Hyperion, a human occupied worldship (interstellar migration ship) study. No project updates have been reported on the website since 2015.
Organizationally, Icarus is a registered in Alaska, February 2011. The organization was created from members of Project Icarus, initiated in September 2009 in an effort to explore multiple interstellar spacecraft systems simultaneously.
History
Icarus Interstellar was founded by Andreas Tziolas, Richard Obousy, Kelvin Long, Pat Galea and Adam Crowl, all members of the original Project Icarus study group. In an interview, Tziolas stated that the project name was chosen both due to a hint from Daedalus project leader Alan Bond and as a result of a "reshaped" mythos in which Icarus lands on an island and plans to forge steel wings to replace his father's wax wings.
Icarus Interstellar's initial mission statement read as follows:
With its hundred-year scale, Icarus seeks to select as destination a star like Alpha Centauri within a radius of 15 light years, or a potentially habitable terrestrial planet if discovered within a radius of 22 light years.
Icarus Interstellar fiscally sponsored the foundation of the Anchorage Makerspace in December 2013, as an open source community-driven space and technical innovation research lab.
Projects
Icarus Interstellar launched several projects all relating to the exploration of space, although most projects have not been updated since 2015. The launched projects include:
*Project Icarus, launched in September 2009 by Kelvin Long and Richard Obousy. Project Icarus is a five-year theoretical design study for a fusion based starship. It starts from the original 1970s Project Daedalus study conducted by members of the British Interplanetary Society. Project Icarus is the flagship project of Icarus Interstellar, being its first design study.
*Project Tin Tin, an Icarus Interstellar initiative to create a CubeSat interstellar probe. Through research into the sustainable environments necessary to sustain an entirely self-contained worldship, Dr. Armstrong hopes to also improve life in cities on Earth. Project Persephone is a research project conducted by Icarus Interstellar, the University of Greenwich, and others. A cylindrical ship 20 km long and 5 km in diameter, with simulated gravity, has been proposed with an ecosystem that can sustain 50 to 500 people. Synthetic soil "grown specifically for that particular environment" has been proposed, with burrows for human habitation.
*Project Bifrost, launched in December 2011, by Tabitha Smith. The Icarus Interstellar Nuclear Space Technology (NST) and Propulsion Development Program operates with long-term goals of tangible deliverables in mind, such as (1) partnership with the United States government and other vital members of the NST community, (2) the creation of nuclear engines (thermal (NTR) and/or electric) and (3) proof of concept for NTR engines and building the foundation for evolving nuclear propulsion.
*Project Helius, launched in August 2011, by Richard Osborne and Kelvin Long. Project Helius has the purpose of building prototype pulsed propulsion demonstrators to test elements of the Daedalus (or other) architecture. The main areas of study are currently focused on the tracking of pellets and the timing of laser devices.
*Project Voyager, launched in summer of 2014, by Zachary Fejes. Project Voyager surrounds the development of interplanetary and interstellar scale mission planning, analysis, and simulation software.
Icarus Interstellar also researches communications methods such as point-to-point laser, use of abandoned fuel tanks as relay stations, or use of moderated fusion pulses to code as signal communications. As the theory is somewhat speculative at this stage, these experiments are designed to test the theory at a fundamental level to determine whether it is consistent with real physics.
Conference
Icarus Interstellar hosted Starship Congress, an international assemblage of recognized interstellar space proponents, in Dallas, Texas, August 15 to 18, 2013. In April 2013, Icarus Interstellar announced a call for papers, with papers from selected presenters to be published in a special edition of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. Starship Congress spanned four days, each with a different focus. Day One was dedicated to "Near Future - The Next 20 Years." Day Two focused on "Mid-Future Interstellar Flight - 20-50 years". Day Three covered "Deep Future Interstellar Flight - 50-500+ years". Day Four included a final assembly with closing announcements, thanks, and a recap. Starship Congress was attended by nearly 200 interstellar scientists, engineers, astronomers, historians, economists, architects, artists, anthropologists and enthusiasts.
Starship Congress 2015, was hosted at Drexel University on September 4 and 5, 2015.
Bibliography
The Icarus Interstellar team includes established scientists that have published numerous articles in a wide range of peer-reviewed scientific journals. A significant number of scientific articles have resulted from the Icarus Project itself, and have been published in peer-reviewed journals under the flag of Icarus Interstellar. These include:
From 2011 to 2013, the following other articles by Icarus Interstellar members were published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society:
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
*
* Project Icarus - Flying Closer to Another Star - A Technical Update and Progress Review
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