The final agenda for Starship Congress 2015 is announced. Here are our speakers:
First Speaker: Rachel Armstrong
Bio: Rachel Armstrong, professor of Experimental Architecture at Newcastle University, innovates and designs sustainable solutions for the built environment using advanced new technologies such as synthetic biology and smart chemistry. Rachel Armstrong’s new science thesis and book, Vibrant Architecture (Matter as CoDesigner of Living Structures), explores prospects for transformations of matter into habitable structures, which prompts a reevaluation of how we think about sustainability in our homes and cities. The open access book can be downloaded free of charge from this site:
Vibrant Architecture: http://www.degruyter.com/view/product/448453
Talk Title: Prototyping Starships
Abstract: The interstellar question is unique and exists beyond the scope of the usual challenges that we’re used to dealing with in the modern age. The concepts are incredibly challenging to evaluate through established methods, as they represent a colossal undertaking that deals with outrageous amounts of uncertainty. To render it even more challenging, the interstellar question is also an intergenerational project that requires us to directly involve our successors in the learning process. Moreover, interstellar challenges are of a different scale and duration than the expectations of modern innovation, having long concept to product timescales and rewards and profits benefiting innovators in their lifetime and the timescales through which revolutionary advances may be observed, are unfamiliar to contemporary schools of thought. In fact, the starship question is much bigger than anything that we’ve attempted in the modern era.
Yet because of this radical status, the credibility of the starship community is bedeviled with criticism. Skeptics claim that the field is primarily a form of science fiction, which upholds blind faith in the power of technology to solve all challenges. That it is largely conjectural as it deals with events that are so far away, the ideas are effectively untestable. Critics are therefore impatient and dismissive, so we are unlikely to disprove their skepticism with unassailable outcomes. This talk examines how the interstellar community can embrace these criticisms, rather than becoming defensive about the nature of the project.
One approach – the theme of the Hackathon – is to adopt an experimental approach to interstellar questions. Unlike existing space ventures, we cannot rely on huge organizations, significant budgets or ambitious engineering platforms such as the ISS, before we make meaningful contributions to the interstellar question. We need to be creative about alternatives. With the advent of shared interest communities, low cost manufacturing platforms and knowledge transfer, what constitutes a ‘laboratory’ and the way we conduct experiments may be very different to our expectations of research in traditional academic practices. Using highly distributed, multidisciplinary approaches we can develop our own questions, methods, tools and production platforms that enable us to build prototypes. These smallscale projects help us shape better questions and open up our ideas for critical engagement to a broader community.
Drawing on research projects in Experimental Architecture, which is involved with the prototyping of worldship soils, this talk will discuss a series of projects and the kinds of approaches that may be adopted more generally when thinking about very large and complex challenges. By working as individuals and collectives to prototype models and testing them for example, in our living spaces and cities, we can demonstrate and evaluate our ideas and actively engage in critical discussion of the starship question. Ultimately, we may even learn how to build starships on this planet in a massive, open and distributed fashion before we ever head for the stars.
Marshall Eubanks
Bio: A physicist who studied under Irwin I. Shapiro at MIT, Marshall Eubanks subsequently worked at the Jet Propulsion Laboratory, and the U.S. Naval Observatory. In both positions he was the technical lead of Very Long Baseline Interferometry (VLBI) measurement systems in support of terrestrial geodesy and spacecraft navigation. In this role he was also a contributor to the first quasarbased International Celestial Reference Frame. In private industry since 1999, he founded one of the first commercial streaming Internet video services and then helped develop Immersive Telepresence. In April, 2014, he founded Asteroid Initiatives LLC, a company dedicated to using picospacecraft to dramatically lower the cost of asteroid exploration and prospecting for resource exploitation and mining. His research interests include tests of General Relativity, the rotational dynamics of the Earth and other celestial bodies, the celestial mechanics of the solar system, decametric planetary radio emissions and locating targets for the first interstellar precursor missions.
Recognitions include having an asteroid, (6696) Eubanks, named in his honor, and being awarded the U.S. Naval Observatory’s Newcomb Medal in recognition of his astronomical research.
Talk Title: A Precursor Interstellar Mission to a Possible Exoplanet Beyond the Kuiper Belt
Abstract:
Travel to the nearby stars, the ultimate goal of interstellar travel, will be facilitated by a sequence of interstellar precursor missions, each providing a gain of knowledge and experience from ever deeper penetrations into interstellar space. The first such precursor missions are in fact already in progress: the Voyager spacecraft have provided the first in situ exploration of the interstellar medium past the heliopause, while the New Horizons probe to Pluto shows that current technology can reconnoiter objects at a distance of 32 AU with a travel time of ∼ 10 years. New Horizons is currently beginning its encounter with the Pluto system, with plans for a New Horizons Kuiper belt mission, a post-Pluto flyby of a Kuiper belt object at ∼ 44 AU. The apparent initial success of this mission indicates that it is time to begin planning the next such interstellar mission.
With the propulsion technology that could be realistically available by the end of this decade (solar sails and electric sails) there are at present two objects, the “Sednoids” (90377) Sedna and 2012 VP113, both currently near their perihelions at ∼ 80 AU, available for missions beyond the outer limit of the Kuiper Belt. These two dwarf planets are the only known objects in the solar system that could possibly be exoplanets (their orbits are very hard to explain without either the presence of undiscovered large bodies in the “First-Generation Oort Cloud,” or an interaction with a passing star), and there is no realistic prospect of the mystery of their origin truly being resolved except through in situ exploration. It should be possible to design and launch in the near future an interstellar precursor mission with a velocity “at infinity” of ∼ 70 km sec−1 (or ∼ 14 AU year−1) which would reach either Sedna or 2012 VP113 within a decade, the heliopause within 15 years, and the Solar Gravitational Lens at 550 AU within about 40 years.
Such a mission would be a true interstellar precursor mission, both improving the propulsion and spacecraft systems for travel into interstellar space, resolving fundamental questions about the nature of the bodies in the “FirstGeneration Oort Cloud,” meeting the NASA Heliophysics decadal survey goals of better understanding the heliopause and the fundamental physical processes of the interstellar medium, while in an extended mission possibly providing the first sounding of the Sun as a gravitational lens. If Sedna (or 2012 VP113) can indeed be shown to be an exoplanet, it would be by orders of magnitude the most accessible exoplanet and undoubtedly would become the target of more intensive direct exploration subsequently.
John Bucknell
Bio: John R. Bucknell graduated from Cleveland State University in 1995 with a bachelor’s in mechanical engineering and the University of Michigan – Dearborn in 1999 with a master’s in systems engineering. He has worked in powertrain engineering at Chrysler and General Motors and rocket propulsion engineering at Space Exploration Technologies. The work shown today was nominated for best paper at the 2015 AIAA Energy and Propulsion Conference.
Talk Title:
The Nuclear Thermal Turbo Rocket — A new conceptual high performance Earth to Orbit propulsion system
Abstract:
Access to space costs are dominated by the investment in the launch vehicle, which typically has one use. To reduce costs, a launch vehicle with both large payload fractions and low operating costs through reuse is desired. A new propulsion system and vehicle architecture proposes to simultaneously to increase payload fractions by large multiples of the current state of the art and be completely reusable.
This propulsion system is a new cycle called the Nuclear Thermal Turbo Rocket, which is a single gas path atomic rocket combined cycle which operates as a high performance multi- mode airbreathing turbo rocket in terrestrial atmosphere and a nuclear thermal rocket in space. The cycle is described as well as performance for proposed missions.
Damien Turchi
Bio: Damien Turchi is a senior at Drexel University pursuing his BS and MS in Mechanical Engineering. He founded the Interstellar Research Club in 2012 after reading about Dr. “Sunny” White’s developments on the Alcubierre Warp Drive. Not long after the formation of this club, Turchi and a few other members emailed a request letter to Andreas Tziolas asking if Drexel’s club could become a part of Icarus Interstellar. By November 2013, the first university chapter in the world became official. Turchi hopes to continue his involvement in Icarus Interstellar after graduation by helping to increase the number of student chapters. He believes that one of the most important aspects in the development of a starship by the end of the century is to inspire a generation of students to become passionate to our cause. #5000by2020
Talk Title: Interstellar Student Chapters
Abstract:
The brief 25 minute presentation will cover two topics: student chapter expansion and the student designed Zeus spacecraft. Damien Turchi will start the session by discussing the invaluable need for student involvement in Icarus Interstellar’s future. He will challenge the audience to aid in inspiring an entire generation of interstellar engineers to make Dr. Tziolas’ Starflight Academy a reality.
David Evinshteyn will then take the stage to introduce the audience to a student designed theoretical starship that is Drexel’s answer to Project Icarus. He will mainly focus on the plasma jet magneto inertial fusion propulsion system, while also discussing the other systems of the spacecraft. This introduction will serve as a catalyst for discussion during the hackathon portion of the congress, so that the student designers can receive advice for improvements from the large pool of knowledge in attendance.
David Evinshteyn
Bio: David Evinshteyn has been with the club since the day it started. His inspirations come primarily from the works of K.E. Tsiolkovskiy and the quote “Earth may be the birthplace of humanity, but mankind cannot stay in its cradle forever”. Working with the Icarus group has fueled his goal to contribute in making humanity a multiplanetary, multistellar species. David is Graduating in 2017 with a Bachelor’s in Mechanical Engineering.
Talk Title: Interstellar Student Chapters
Abstract:
The brief 25 minute presentation will cover two topics: student chapter expansion and the student designed Zeus spacecraft. Damien Turchi will start the session by discussing the invaluable need for student involvement in Icarus Interstellar’s future. He will challenge the audience to aid in inspiring an entire generation of interstellar engineers to make Dr. Tziolas’ Starflight Academy a reality.
David Evinshteyn will then take the stage to introduce the audience to a student designed theoretical starship that is Drexel’s answer to Project Icarus. He will mainly focus on the plasma jet magneto inertial fusion propulsion system, while also discussing the other systems of the spacecraft. This introduction will serve as a catalyst for discussion during the hackathon portion of the congress, so that the student designers can receive advice for improvements from the large pool of knowledge in attendance.
Bruno Doussau
Bio: Bruno Doussau is a french engineer who studied first agricultural and food industry, before branching out into computer science. Today, he is a computer science teacher at Tyumen State University. Since childhood truly passionate about sciences and space. Since about 10 years involved to devise an overall strategy for interstellar travel. Proponent of a change of scale in the approach : more than a crew, a space nation, more than a spacecraft, an interstellar ark…
Talk Title: An ice mountain to save energy Propulsion optimization for a manned interstellar travel
Abstract:
A manned interstellar travel should imply gathering really huge masses of matter, following a selfreinforcing three level mechanism. First, a comprehensive living environment is needed to house humans for centuries, that represents a huge payload (ten or so gigatonnes). Secondly, to propel this payload, the amount of fuel needed is so enormous (about one solar second of energy for v/c~0.01) that saving energy becomes the central issue. Thirdly, to save energy, the physic of the propulsion proposes to decrease the ejection velocity and greatly increase the ejection mass flow, mixing the energetic reaction products with some inert fluid, that we propose to be water, for its abundance in the solar system and its ease of storage during the journey. This third point is the subject of the present article. It could lead to a more than 20:1 mass ratio (initial mass/final mass) in order to save 10% of energy. With this setup, 94% of the starting mass of the vessel could be water, in the form of ice.
Lukas Schrenk
Bio: Lukas Schrenk is a Master’s Student at the Technical University of Munich currently working on his Master’s Thesis at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology, within the Strategic Engineering Research Group. He is one of the team leaders of the Interstellar Spaceflight research group within the WARR, the student scientific research group for spaceflight and rocketry in Munich. The team is working on interstellar fusion propulsion as part of Project Icarus and participated and won the Project Dragonfly (I4IS) design competition on interstellar laser sail propulsion.
Talk Title: Project Icarus: A Concept Study for a Mission to Alpha Centauri, Based on Nuclear Pumped Inertial Confinement Fusion Propulsion
Abstract:
As one of the sub teams of Project Icarus (Icarus Interstellar), the Ghost team from the Technical University of Munich, designed an interstellar spacecraft that won the Design Competition in 2013. The spacecraft shall be mainly fusion based and reach Alpha Centauri, 4.3 light years from our sun within 100 years.
The main characteristic of the Ghost ship is that it is propelled by a deuterium fast ignition inertial confinement fusion engine. The pellet compression and ignition is achieved by two separate laser systems. Since the DD fusion produces large quantities of neutrons the Ghost design reuses them to power the lasers, namely neutron pumped solid state lasers. To protect vital systems of the spacecraft, like the payload or the engine systems which are close to the ignition point, a small part of the neutrons has to be shielded. This results in a large waste heat removal requirement. Phase change radiators are attached to both sides of the ship, where Lithium is used to transport the heat from the neutron shields to the fins.
To deploy the 150t scientific research equipment within the Alpha Centauri system, the spacecraft uses a combination of a magnetic sail and fusion propulsion to decelerate. To communicate back to earth from Alpha Centauri, the spacecraft is equipped with a high power interstellar communication system.
The total spacecraft has a weight of 187000 t, with 170000 t Propellant mass. For Starship Congress 2015 the design has been enhanced and revised.
Zach Fejes
Bio: Zach Fejes is an electrical engineer, and a recent graduate of the University of Toronto. He has held a lifelong passion for space and has been working to better the industry through the development of new and powerful tools. As the Lead of Project Voyager, he has organized a team of over 20 students and experts to develop novel mission planning software for education, research, and industry.
Talk Title: How We Get There
Abstract:
Mission planning lies at the start of all space endeavors. This is true both in the professional and educational sense, as all space missions must be coordinated and planned in great detail, and students of space sciences should have an understanding of the requirements and dynamics of space travel.
Project Voyager, in association with Icarus Interstellar, focuses on development of novel mission planning systems. Voyager is designed to fill the role of both professional mission planning software – of industry quality – and educational software for students the world over.
From an industry perspective, this will provide a high quality tool for planning missions over any practical distance. The Voyager map will include all relevant bodies within our solar system, as well as all stars and known exoplanets within a 15 light‐year radius of our Sun. The software provides mission planning using patched conics as base, as well as numerical n‐body simulation for more accurate models.
From an educational standpoint, Voyager is being designed to function as both a teaching tool and a powerful simulator for space sciences. The Voyager software has been designed from the beginning to make use of modern video game design as well as mathematical rigor in our mission planning. By minimizing the learning curve of the software, we can ensure that simple mission design for younger students is accessible.
During the talk I will describe the Voyager software, my team’s work, and the development of this project from its inception to its future. I will use Voyager as a window to show how meaningful projects developed by students can have impressive real‐world impact.
Bruce Mackenzie
Bio: Bruce Mackenzie is a founder of the Mars Foundation, dedicated to education and research on settlement of Mars. His special interest is the use of insitu materials, such as production of plastic and masonry from the Martian air and dirt, to build habitats and 3D printing for Mars Settlement.
Bruce has been active in the National Space Society, AIAA, Mars Society, Space Studies Institute, and SEDS. Other work includes entrepreneurial ventures, software engineering, aerospace engineering, cad development, gps receivers, gun launched satellites. But, the most fun were: Mars Settlement designs, space elevators, and the use of rotating space tethers to establish industry on Luna and export Lunar materials.
Talk Title: Leapfrog Across the Galaxy, and Beyond
Abstract:
We should plan on a Grander Scale! It is a waste of energy to slow down our star ship at the first destination.
This ‘Leap Frog’ concept proposes a series of traveling ‘convoy ships’ which establish a path of settlements across the galaxy. The first convoy ship would drop off “seed ships” with settlers and supplies, at each habitable star system. The resulting settlements would launch “supply craft” to rendezvous with later convoy ships as they pass, and also help them accelerate. Periodically, the first convoy ship will do gravity assist turns at stars to zigzag and fall back at the end of the line of convoy ships. Thus, the other ships ‘leapfrog” it. It can now receive supplies from settlements ahead.
A baseline system assumes relatively slow “generation ships”, home to multiple generations of people, with biological life support, perhaps accelerated by lasers and light sails. Or, a far future system may be small ships managed by intelligent machines or downloaded human intelligence. By sharing advances in technology between ships, they can be upgraded enroute.
Like other interstellar proposals, there will be many problems. But these problems are not vastly harder than just traveling to another star systems and stopping. Other authors have novel ideas which can be combined with this plan.
Most other interstellar plans will require a deliberate allocation of resources to build each new star ship, which only travels to a single destination. This Leap Frog plan establishes a culture of continuous expansion, guaranteeing that our descendants will continue to spread throughout the stars.
Ralph McNutt
Bio: Dr. McNutt is the chief scientist in the Space Department at the Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory, which he joined in 1992. As project scientist for the MESSENGER mission, he serves as the principal investigator’s “righthand man” in making sure that the spacecraft, mission design and experiment plan answer all six of the major science questions the project will investigate at the innermost planet. He will participate in analysis of Mercury’s surface composition using data from MESSENGER’s XRay Spectrometer and GammaRay and Neutron Spectrometer instruments.
Dr. McNutt is also a coinvestigator on NASA’s New Horizons (PlutoKuiper Belt) mission, a team member of the Cassini Ion Neutral Mass Spectrometer investigation and a science team member of two Voyager investigations. He has been involved in a range of space physics research projects and mission studies, including studies of the magnetospheres of the outer planets, the interaction of the solar wind with the interstellar medium, solar neutrinos, and solar probe and interstellar probe missions for the future.
Talk Title: Pluto and Beyond: Next Steps to the Stars after the Voyagers and New Horizons
Abstract:
The unprecedented journeys of the Voyagers and New Horizons continue to return groundbreaking science in mankind’s first tentative steps toward the stars. Along with the now-silent Pioneer 10 and 11, only these five spacecraft to date have reached escape speed from the solar system. After 38 years of flight Voyager 1, launched on 5 September 1977, is still “only” 132 AU from the Sun – about 18 light hours. Voyager 2, launched 22 August 1977 is on a slower trajectory and about 108 AU from the Sun. Both spacecraft will go “off line” in the mid 2020’s as their power supplies continue to decline. New Horizons made its closest approach to Pluto on 14 July 2015. Launched 19 January 2006 on a faster trajectory than the Voyagers, New Horizons received less of a gravity assist in the outer solar system and has a slower asymptotic speed, passing Pluto at a closing speed of ~14 km/s. Also limited by the decay of its power supply, New Horizons is estimated to go offline in the late 2030’s at approaching 100 AU from the Sun. The idea of a dedicated Interstellar Probe, an automated spacecraft to reach well into the interstellar medium, was first discussed in the context of Pioneer 10/11mission planning in 1970. The Voyagers, with a mission design requirement of 5 years, and early 1970’s instrumentation, have only hinted at new scientific questions in data returned in the last few years.
There is a general consensus in the heliospheric science community that next advances in our understanding of the very local interstellar medium (VLISM), typically defined as 0.01 parsecs or ~2,000 AU from the Sun, dictates a dedicated mission with a requirement to return data from out to 200 AU from the Sun. Such a “next mission” could be launched in the next 10 to 15 years with technology now under development by using the Space Launch System (SLS) – Block 1B launch vehicle and a variety of upper stages. A mission using new instrumentation and such a launch system, combined with a close Jupiter gravity assist, could reach 200 AU in 30 years with a speed almost twice that of the Voyagers. By using such an approach, a mission through the heliospheric “ribbon” near the “nose” of the heliosphere could also make a close flyby the Kuiper Belt Object (KBO) 50000 Quaoar, about the size of Pluto’s largest moon Charon, as well as its own know satellite Weywot. Such a science mission is a logical next step in humanity’s march to the stars in addressing new science and being within current technological reach.
Bryan Quigley
Bio: Bryan Quigley is an open source software developer and support engineer. After getting his degree from Drexel University he moved to India to work on an open source transition for desktops. Now he works at Canonical where he supports customers with Ubuntu, OpenStack and many other software projects.
Talk Title: How should you manage software on an manned interstellar expedition?
Abstract:
How should you manage software on an manned interstellar expedition? Your nearest vendor is 5+ Light Years from hearing about your latest issue. You are going to have to manage the collection of software yourself. Linux distributions like Ubuntu are just that, collections of software. Why not see if you can use the same tools that we use to manage the software for the expedition?
I’ll be covering what I’d want Earth to be sending the expedition. How many resources on ship I would allocate and what software I’d be expecting as part of the collection.
Jeff Nosanov
Bio: I am passionate about creating projects, programs and companies that advance the capabilities of the aerospace and space exploration communities.
I worked at the NASA Jet Propulsion Lab for four and a half years in a wide array of roles. I most enjoyed the work on mission concepts and proposals. I grew curious about the ways in which space policy and space mission approvals are made.
I am now the principal investigator for a NASAfunded study called PERISCOPE: PERIapsis Subsurface Cave OPtical Explorer. The idea is to use photon timeofflight imaging to map the caves on the moon from lunar orbit. This technology will have many other applications beyond these caves.
I also consult on proposals to numerous federal agencies (NASA, DARPA, DoD, NIH, NSF, etc) and scientific and technology strategy. Please contact me if I can be of assistance.
Long term, I am interested in developing new models and incentives for funding space exploration.
Talk Title:
So you want to plan a Space Mission?
Abstract:
I will be discussing the broader topic about how missions actually happen and how individuals (such as students in our audience) can prepare to make unusually large impacts on that process (e.g. the way Kepler was eventually selected) and be leaders in the future of space exploration.
I will connect the broader ideas of making missions happen with my NIAC experience, which is a way for individuals to amplify their influence regarding new ideas. My 2012 project, the interstellar solar sail one, is a perfect example of getting ambitious conversations started, and my latest one (lunar cave mapping) can serve as an example of strategically selecting goals that fit into the NASA-wide plan.
Andreas Tziolas
Bio: Dr. Andreas Tziolas is a cofounder and the President of Icarus Interstellar. He has served as Project Icarus Leader (fusion based starship study) and is current Project Lead for Project TinTin (interstellar nanosat mission development team) and holds the positions of Chairman for Research and Chairman for Education at Icarus Interstellar.
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 blackholes in extra dimensions. He also holds an MPhys degree in Physics with Space Sciences and Technology, from Leicester University where he worked on the Life Detection Module aboard the Mars Express/Beagle2 mission to Mars.
Andreas has held a variety of research positions including two summer research fellowships at JPL/NASA where he worked with the Outer Planetary Atmosphere’s Group, supporting the Galileo mission to Jupiter as part of the Hubble Wide Fields and Planetary Camera team. He also served as a Graduate Technologist working on the Large Interferometric Space Antenna (LISA) mission development team at The University of Birmingham in the UK.
He currently resides in Anchorage, Alaska where he holds the position Chief Scientist for Variance Dynamical Corp, developing next generation analog electronic sensors for use in real time spectrometers and high radiation environments.
Talk Title: Starflight Academy and Asymmetrical Education
Abstract:
A human interstellar flight program will require a workforce trained in breaking barriers. Those currently imagining our presence amongst the stars are reimagining the future based on what we currently know and extrapolating to what is needed on earth for an interstellar exploration objective to be tangible. Asymmetrical approaches to curriculum development have been underway for a number of years, disrupting the classroomteacher and studyhomework model, to immerse the individual meaningfully in each subject.
In this paper we present the statement of purpose for an educational program in Interstellar Engineering, where students are placed into a system of interactive advanced concept design and development. This Starflight Academy, serves as a campus where thinking beyond the conventional is the deliberate objective for placing graduates in poll position to solve our worlds biggest problems by designing for the operation and life on a Starship.
Ken Wisian
Bio: Ken Wisian is a sometime scientist, fulltime military officer and lifelong space enthusiast. He has degrees in Geophysics (Ph.D. SMU), Physics (B.A. University of Texas at Austin) and Strategic Studies (M.S.S. US Army War College). Ken is also a graduate of the US Air Force Test Pilot School and has more than 70 hours of high and medium risk test flights. He currently serves as a Major General in the US Air Force and Air National Guard. He has combat time in the Balkans, Iraq and Afghanistan.
Talk Title: Ship to Ship First Contact in Space Protocol
Abstract:
How do two ships approach each other in a first contact setting? When it happens it will be a pivotal moment for human history. The slightest mistake or misperceived intention could cascade into violence. Therefore even future deep space robotic probes, let alone a true interstellar ship whether crewed by humans or AI, should incorporate courses of action for this possibility.
The development of first contact protocols is obviously rife with unknowns since we only have a oneplanet historical data set to base our projections on, never the less we must proceed. The bulk of the thinking on first contact so far has focused on a remote contact via electromagnetic signal exchange or finding nonsentient microbiota (aka Apollo postmission quarantine), but what if we stumble upon another intelligence in space. Admittedly, this may not be the most likely course of action, but as we start to move deeper into space it is a possibility. Through trial and error, protocols have been developed for military ship and aircraft encounters on Earth; for example, no sudden acceleration or heading change such as would make airtoair missiles more employable. These cases provide a good basis of thought for starting to build first contact protocols.
This paper will review human rules of encounter currently used and build a set of simple rules for a shiptoship encounter in space based on the assumption that there is no effective communication prior or during the encounter. These rules would apply regardless of whether either ship is crewed or not or even if the alien ship appears to be inert.
Antoine Faddoul
Bio: Antoine Faddoul is a Designer, Artist, Futurist, and Storyteller. His approach combines elements of astronomy, natural sciences, architecture, archaeology, history, art, ancient mythology, and linguistics. He has lectured, written, and published several papers, articles, and books covering such areas. In his Starship Gliina project, Faddoul compiled a hundred aspects of design required for human deep space travel assessing sustainability for current and future technology. Faddoul holds a bachelor degree in Architecture and a MS in Construction Project Management.
Talk Title: Space Architecture: Design for Human Extended Space Missions
Abstract:
Human interstellar travel introduces physiological, social, and psychological features that current short term space travel lacks. Such design mimics Earth with its social, communal, and psychological aspects that define humanity as we know it. In regular design, many factors are usually accounted for within a macro environment such as urban design, or a microenvironment that would be created by individuals later. In space architecture we have to factor in all the macro and micro aspects. Over one hundred design aspects required for crewed deep space travel were distributed into three main categories; structure, environment, and human needs. The items were analyzed for sustainable design requirements and for technology status.
On Earth, as well as in deep space journeys, society and technology take their own course in adaption and evolution. Such developments come from two main factors; the inherited features within the miniature community and the continuous evolving effects of the surroundings. An effective design approach should account for the departure time conditions and allow for changes and advancements via comprehensive futuristic scenarios.
Nick Nielsen
Bio: J. N. Nielsen is interested in the study of civilization, especially in relation to the human future. He spoke at the 2011 and 2012 100YSS symposia and at Starship Congress 2013.
Talk Title: What Kind of Civilization Builds Starships?
Abstract:
The question “What kind of civilization builds starships?” has both theoretical and practical implications. To ask the question implies that there are kinds of civilizations, and if there are kinds of civilizations we should be able to formulate a taxonomy of civilizations. Once we have a taxonomy of civilizations we should also be able to classify our own civilization. Some subset of civilizations will be spacefaring, and among the spacefaring subset a further subset of civilizations will build starships.
Having identified the classification of our own civilization, we should have an idea about whether our civilization falls into the classification of those civilizations that converge upon building starships. This leads to practical questions. If we are a civilization likely to go on to build starships, is there any way to accelerate this development? If we are not a civilization that likely converges upon spacefaring and starships, could the developmental direction of our civilization be changed? If so, how?
Ilia Toli
Bio: I graduated PhD in mathematics from University of Pisa, Italy in December 2004. I spent two years postdoc in various universities in France. Since 2007 I have worked in various American universities as a lecturer of mathematics. In this moment, I teach mathematics at Valencia College, and chemistry at University of Central Florida (UCF). I graduated with a BS in aerospace engineering from UCF in May 2015 and a BS in chemistry from UCF in August 2015. Studying for my second PhD in chemistry at UCF. I speak five languages: English, French, Italian, Spanish, Albanian.
Talk Title: Concept design of a fast and practical interstellar probe using currently available technology
Abstract:
In this paper, a new model of propulsion is proposed that does not follow the Tsiolkovsky rocket equation. In fact, the probe carries with it only a nuclear heat source of a negligible mass. Various issues like stability and aerodynamic heating are considered. Variations are proposed. The time frame for missions to Alpha Centauri is around 8 { 10 years or less. The model can be applied to Mars missions. This cuts the travel time to about one month. The cost and size of the propulsion systems are much smaller than the current ones.
Nathan Morrison
Bio: Nathan Morrison serves as the Chief Executive Officer and Director of Research and Development for Sustainable Now Technologies, Inc., a Biotech firm located in Southern California. Nathan additionally works to design living interiors for Project Persephone, for the Icarus Interstellar foundation. He is a published author and public speaker, and a strong advocate for carbon capture implementation strategies. Nathan has spent most of the last decade developing innovative bioreactor technologies that utilize algae as a living internal component to capture carbon, and to produce organic biomass and hydrocarbons. Examples of his work include the development of the Helix BioReactor in collaboration with the late inventor, Steven Shigematsu, the Algae Research Module for the University of Greenwich’s School of Architecture and Landscape in London, and the Mark IX BioReactor modules for carbon sequestration, soon to be deployed in the United Kingdom to enable academic institutions and new construction projects to comply with the Climate Change Act implemented by Parliament in 2008.
Talk Title:
Abstract:
If we as living beings are to travel across the void of space to visit another star system, there are serious technological challenges to overcome. The history of manned spaceflight began in low earth orbit, and has largely remained there, with the exception of the Apollo program, since the early 1960’s. This discussion invites the listener to travel on a brief journey through the past, to explore what humanity has learned thus far in terms of biological support systems, and then onto a far more interesting excursion into the potential future of manned spaceflight using biotechnological systems designed for Project Persephone, for consideration on the Icarus Interstellar Spacecraft. The present paradigm of spaceflight relegates deep space exploration to unmanned probes. Herein the challenge is presented to ‘hack’ that paradigm, and to develop viable life support systems with which humanity can actively travel between stars.