Steps Remaining

 

QUESTIONS

• Minimum sustainable population size for planning world ships
• Minimum requirements per person (energy, volume, biological throughputs [water, food/waste, air])
• Maximum demonstrated rocket specific impulse (empirical, not theoretical)
• Minimum energy required to send a detectable signal back to Earth from 4.5 light-years distant
• Maximum demonstrated reliable operational duration for contemporary spacecraft hardware
• Best demonstrated pointing accuracy for beamed energy
• Distance within where Earth’s civilization would be detectable by an ET using same SETI detection technology as currently used on Earth.

 

 

TASK RECOMMENDATIONS ON HAND

HUMAN RELEVANCE

• Popular Perceptions of Starflight (Anthropological study) (1yr)
  Suggested by Kathryn Denning, Department of Anthropology, York University, Toronto, Canada

• Who Would Go? (Anthropological study) (1yr)
  Suggested by Kathryn Denning, Department of Anthropology, York University, Toronto, Canada

• The Big Question: “Will humanity survive beyond its extinction on Earth?” (Web utility) (1yr)
  Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH
  Claudio Maccone, Technical Director, International Academy of Astronautics for Scientific Space Exploration
  Ed Zampino, NASA Glenn Research Center
  Dana Andrews, Tau Zero Foundation

• Science and Fiction in the Golden Age: Starflight in the Popular Imagination (Book) (2yr)
  Suggested by Paul Gilster, Centauri Dreams, Tau Zero Foundation

• Confronting Contentious Social Issues via Colony Ship Contemplations (Anthropological study) (2yr)
  Suggested by Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH
  Possible Practitioner: Kathryn Denning, Department of Anthropology, York University, Toronto, Canada

 

EDUCATING TOMORROW’S PIONEERS

• From Science Fiction to Frontiers of Science (Documentary series pilot) (2yr)
  Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH
  Geoff Landis, NASA Glenn Research Center

• Student Interstellar Studies Guide to Colleges and Subject Selections (Web utility) (1yr)
  Suggested by Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH
  Geoff Landis, NASA Glenn Research Center

• Public Companion Book to “Frontiers of Propulsion Science” (Book) (2yr)
  Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH

 

WHAT’S OUT THERE

• Statistical Living Drake & Fermi Equation (Web utility) (1yr)
  Claudio Maccone, Technical Director, International Academy of Astronautics for Scientific Space Exploration

• Celestial Body Magnetic Fields Assessment (Feasibility study) (1yr)
  Suggested by George Hathaway, Hathaway Consulting, Toronto Canada

• Habitable World Statistical Estimations (Web utility) (1yr)
  Suggested by Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH
  For Claudio Maccone, Technical Director, International Academy of Astronautics for Scientific Space Exploration
  Idea for Maggie Turnbull, Astronomer/Astrobiologist at Global Science Institute

• Interstellar Navigation – Provisional System Design Study (1yr)
  Suggested by Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH
  and 2nd Lt. Ryan Gauntt, Graduate Student, US Airforce Institute of Technology (2010)

 

GETTING THERE – OVERALL ASSESSMENTS & COLONY SHIPS

• Biological Adaptations for Colony Ships and Planetary Settlement (Book) (1yr)
  Athena Andreadis, University of Massachusetts Medical School & author The Biology of Star Trek

• Energy Bounds of Interstellar Flight (Optimized equations for energy, power, thrust, etc) (1yr)
  Suggested by Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH
  Jim Gilland, Ohio Aerospace Institute
  Adam Crowl, Crowl Space Consulting

• Minimal Colony Ship (Requirement Definition study) (1yr)
  Suggested by Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH

• Millennial Reliability for Star Ships (Technology and requirements assessment) (1yr)
  Ralph McNutt, Johns Hopkins University Applied Physics Laboratory
  Ed Zampino, NASA Glenn Research Center

• Autonomous In-flight Repair (Technology assessment) (2yr)
  Suggested by Project Icarus Study Group, Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society

 

GETTING THERE – WITH NEXT-STEP TECHNOLOGY

• 2025 Interstellar Precursor Baseline Technology (Study) (2yr)
  Jean-Luc Cambier, USAF

• Solar Sail Mission Business Plan (High school or undergraduate student project) (1yr)
  Suggested by Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH

• Solar Sail Mission Optimizations (Detailed factors assessment) (1yr)
  Greg Matloff, New York City College of Technology

• Directed Energy-Driven Starcraft (Economic assessment model development) (1yr)
  James Benford, Microwave Sciences

• Nuclear Power Plant Design (CSNR Summer Fellow design project) (1yr)
  Prepared by Steve Howe, Center for Space Nuclear Research, Idaho Falls

• Secondary Propulsion Options for Interstellar Spacecraft (Technology assessment) (1yr)
  Suggested by Project Icarus Study Group, Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society

• Optical Communication for Interstellar Exploration (Technology assessment) (1yr)
  Suggested by Project Icarus Study Group, Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society

• Interstellar Launch Infrastructure (Technology) (1yr)
  Suggested by Project Icarus Study Group, Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society

• Interstellar Energy Infrastructure – using foreseeable technology (Design study) (2yr)
  Suggested by Gerald Nordley
  Jim Benford

• Experimental Characterization of Sail Beam Lasers on Dielectric Films (2yr)
  Suggested by Jordin Kare, Intellectual Ventures, and Chief Scientist for LaserMotive

 

GETTING THERE – WITH TECHNOLOGY AT ITS EDGE

• Impact Fusion Runway (aka Bussard Buzz-Bomb) (Feasibility study) (1yr)
  Suggested by Jordin Kare, Intellectual Ventures, and Chief Scientist for LaserMotive

• Icarus Development Roadmap (Study) 1yr)
  Suggested by Project Icarus Study Group, Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society

• Antimatter Production Infrastructure Requirements (Technology assessment) (1yr)
  Suggested by Project Icarus Study Group, Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society

• Fusion Power & Propulsion for Interstellar Precursors (Technology assessment) (1yr)
  Suggested by Project Icarus Study Group, Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society

• Plasma Jet Driven Magneto-Inertial Fusion for Interstellar Precursors (Technology assessment) (1yr)
  Suggested by Project Icarus Study Group, Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society

• Ultradense Deuterium for Fusion Propulsion (Technology assessment) (1yr)
  Suggested by Project Icarus Study Group, Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society

• Timeline to Launch (Technology assessment) (1yr)
  Suggested by Project Icarus Study Group, Tau Zero Foundation and the British Interplanetary Society

 

GETTING THERE – WITH EASE –PURSUING REVOLUTIONARY PROPULSION PHYSICS

• Propulsion Using Vacuum Stresses on Dynamic Microstructured Sails (Theoretical assessment) (1yr)
  Jordan Maclay, Chief Scientist, Quantum Fields LLC

• Thought Experiments with Relative Inertial Frames (Theoretical assessment) (1yr)
  Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH

• Experimental Tests of Optical Analogy (Experimental assessment) (2yr)
  Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH

• Models for superluminal communication (Design of experiment) (1yr)
  Jordan Maclay, Chief Scientist, Quantum Fields LLC
  Yakir Aharonov Tel Aviv
  John Cramer, U. Washington
  Marlan Scully, TAMU,
  Kent Peacock, UAlberta

• Gravitational Tacking for Interstellar Travel (Theoretical assessment) (1yr)
  Jordan Maclay, Chief Scientist, Quantum Fields LLC
  Martin Tajmar, Korea Advanced Inst. of Science and Technology (KAIST), Daejeon, South Korea
  Geoffrey Landis, NASA Glenn, Cleveland OH
  Claudio Maccone, Technical Director, International Academy of Astronautics for Scientific Space Exploration

• Simulating Space Warps with Metamaterials (Design of experiment) (2yr)
  Eric Davis, Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin, TX
  Experimental Test of Dobyn’s Inertial Wheel Analogy (1yr)
  Eric Davis, Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin, TX

• Independent Testing Facility for Low-Thrust Unconventional Propulsion Claims (Business Plan) (1yr)
  George Hathaway, Hathaway Consulting, Toronto Canada
  Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH

• Applying Post-1950′s Data to 1890′s Attempts at Mach’s Principle (Theoretical assessment) (1yr)
  Marc Millis, Tau Zero Foundation, Cleveland OH

Content Contributors

• Marc Millis