• Practitioner Network: The foundation will continue to expand and refine its collection of multidisciplinary practitioners – credible risk-takers who know how to push the edge of knowledge to answer the most important questions. Through collaborations and eventually with financial support, these researchers will identify the promising research avenues, decide what can be done about them, and then tackle those challenges. The lessons learned will be disseminated through normal professional publications, plus being routinely translated into forms suitable for public education.
• Educational Outreach: To inspire students and to keep the public informed about the implications of emerging technology and science on their lives, the Foundation will maintain this public website, produce educational books and documentaries, and develop teaching curricula.
• Supporting Research: Once substantial resources have been acquired, cycles of research will be supported through competitive selections. Within these, scholarships will also be offered to help develop promising students. Also, to encourage more risk-taking credible research, conspicuous cash awards will be given to those who have demonstrated the appropriate blend of vision and rigor in their work.
• Invitational Research Institute: At this point, this is just a long-term concept. Our institute would be a place where leading pioneers could be brought together for 2-year sabbaticals to work side-by-side.

Exploring the edge of knowledge for profound discoveries evokes special challenges. In addition to the normal challenges of scientific research – discovering how nature truly works – the provocative character of interstellar flight can encumber research. First, by pursuing truly profound improvements in the human condition, the stakes are higher and accordingly emotions run higher. Second, by operating on the genuine edge of knowledge, instead of exploring refinements of established methods, controversial ideas are encountered. This combination of heightened emotions and controversy can encumber the normal, productive discourse of scientific study. Both skeptics and optimists can prematurely reach conflicting conclusions and, in their zeal, fail to communicate with the impartiality needed to rigorously identify and resolve the real issues.

Complementary Contrasts
A recurring opportunity seen from the lessons of prior work is to deliberately contrast opposing, yet complementary extremes, such as combining imaginative musings with the skeptical analysis. By simultaneously extending into opposing perspectives, a dynamic interaction can occur to accelerate progress. Examples of such dualisms include:

• Brainstorming with wild imagination (science fiction), while refining ideas through rigorous reasoning (scientific method).
• Far-term goals sought, yet through small near-term steps.
• Revolutionary and disruptive advances sought, but through careful incremental steps.
• Looking outside the responsible incumbent organizations for new ideas, yet still tapping into the individuals in the incumbent organizations for skeptical assessments.
• Passionate drive to fuel the questions, while using dispassionate and impartial assessments to provide the answers.
• Dissenting opinions encouraged, arriving at a united plan.
• Divergent research approaches explored, toward a common goal.
• Individualistic contributions sought, yet as part of a community, not using the Foundation for self-promotion.
• Dependability of information is emphasized, while acknowledging the degree of its uncertainty.

Specific Practices
When advocating for high-stakes gains that are presumed to be far from fruition, the moderating strategy is to focus on the integrity of the progress rather than on the gains themselves. Such practices temper the provocative nature of high-gain pursuits so that it is easier to maintain objective rigor, both from the perspective of the enthusiasts and the skeptics. Below are some of the specific techniques adopted for the Foundation from prior experiences:

• Define success as gaining reliable knowledge instead of as achieving a breakthrough (failed tests are still valuable knowledge). This places the emphasis on the learning rather than on provoking premature claims.
• Focus on the immediate make-or-break issues, curious effects, or lingering unknowns that are identified when comparing the desired advancements to the state of the art of technology and science. Use the contrasts of vision and skepticism to home in on the most critical grounds of contention, converting skeptical objections into research objectives. Then convert the objective into an incremental research step that can be completed in 1 to 3 years.
• Configure research to provide a discriminating test, and if that is not possible, then at least advance the approach deliberately toward a discriminating test.
• Judge research proposals on the anticipated dependability of results, not the feasibility of the concept under study (failed tests are still valuable knowledge). This avoids the common reflexive rejection of the unfamiliar, and instead focuses attention on a reliable resolution.
• Devise selection and ranking criteria using a team of both sponsors and practitioners.
• Cover a span of divergent approaches to diversify the portfolio, rather than chasing the hot topics.
• Publish results, both pro and con, to guide the next research steps. Put the emphasis on supporting the dependability of the results rather than hyping their implications. Treat the implications dispassionately in professional publications.
• Archive the full details of the work, since many vital details will be too long to fit within the length constraints of journals.
• Constrain research conclusions within the limits of the irrefutable data, making clear the bounds of uncertainty and avoiding the urge to generalize beyond.
• Repeat cycles of incremental research and publications to sustain overall progress.
• Measure progress by a combination of advancing stages of relevance and the steps of the Scientific Method

Unlike most private space organizations, the Tau Zero Foundation is not an advocacy group. We are not trying to convince the government to show more wisdom by consistently investing in humanity's future. (One seemingly impossible challenge at a time is quite enough, thank you.) Instead, the primary purpose of this Foundation is research and education, starting with our team of volunteer professionals, and with support from you, the public. Unlike other research and education groups, this Foundation sets it sights beyond foreseeable returns – namely the seemingly impossible goal of practical interstellar flight. By reaching beyond, we open the way for discoveries that the others aren't even looking for. Along similar lines, the allure and thought-provoking power of science fiction will be deliberately used. But unlike entertainment-only science-fiction (and folklore enthusiasts with their own axes to grind), we apply reason and rigor to extract workable insights from which to produce reliable progress.

It must be stressed that this Foundation is not supported by, or in any way affiliated with, NASA. Instead, this Foundation is a private venture by scientists, engineers, educators, and writers (some of whom work for NASA in their day-jobs) who have agreed to help advance the prospects of interstellar flight on their own time. Also, many of the Foundation's activities are not allowed in US Government service. Unlike Federal agencies, this Foundation can: (1) Accept volunteer work (2) Accept donations directed for a specific purpose, (3) Create promotional materials as part of educational outreach, (4) Use the allure of science fiction as a thought-provoking tool, and (5) Earn revenue from products.

Being at the edge of knowledge can be risky. Here the Foundation's practitioners build upon, and go beyond, what is supported in academia, industry, and government. By accepting the challenge of the seemingly impossible goal of practical interstellar flight, we could very well discover what routine research overlooks, jumping significantly ahead. For example, science-fiction will be deliberately used for its "what-if" and inspirational values, technical investigations will span the seemingly simple solar sail all the way to seemingly impossible faster-than-light travel, and the provocative social implications will be explored, from the immediate effects of pursuing such a long-range endeavor, to pondering the implications of interstellar excursions, and of contacting extraterrestrial intelligence.