But this society was short-lived. Right after publishing its first newsletter in July, 1995, NASA began sponsoring its own interstellar work; the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project, led by Marc Millis (NASA GRC), the Advanced Space Transportation Research Program, led by John Cole (NASA MSFC), and studies that led to numerous nearer-term concepts such as the Interstellar Precursor Mission, proposed by R. Wewaldt and P. Liewer (Caltech and NASA JPL). It seemed that the need for the grass-roots society had been supplanted with funded government research. The society’s founders and advisors let their Interstellar Propulsion Society fade away.

About 7 years later, however, these visionary NASA activities also ended. Quoting from the 2003 Budget of the United States (p.325), in a section about the damaging effects of Congressional earmarks: "Finally, the Congress earmarked funds for a low priority propulsion lab by cutting the very research the lab it is meant to support" (sic).

Just prior to the NASA cuts, Marc Millis (whose first work on these topics was published in 1990) began to shift the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics work to a consortium of government, industry and academia. From managing what is arguably the most visionary NASA project, Millis learned that such edgy research needs more rounded participation. Although the funding cuts halted this transformation, the idea that such visionary research should include facets beyond what the government could address was clear. Millis’s brief experiences with Walter De Brouwer’s Starlab in 2001 also gave him new insights into entrepreneurial adventures.

In 2003 Millis returned to school to pursue a Masters in "Physics Entrepreneurship" at the Case Western Reserve University. As a school project Millis wrote a business plan for an "Interstellar Flight Foundation" that one of his management consultants took seriously enough to incorporate in 2004, before Millis secured NASA's permission to develop this Foundation on his own time. Now that Millis has secured permission and the management consultant has gone his separate way, Millis and his collaborators are resuming this endeavor.

It must be stressed that the Tau Zero 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 services (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.

The name "Tau Zero" was inspired by Poul Anderson's science fiction novel of the same name. "Tau" refers to the Greek letter representing proper time in relativistic equations. "Tau Zero" refers to the situation when one approaches light-speed and one's proper time shrinks compared to the surrounding and rapidly aging universe. This was the premise of the novel, as an interstellar craft, unable to stop accelerating, moved ever closer to light speed. Anderson, who passed away in 2001, is highly regarded as one of those rare science fiction writers whose work reflects sound science. He wrote of interstellar flight often and is believed to have inspired many students to become scientists and engineers. In February 2006, his widow, Karen Anderson, granted permission for the Foundation to use this name as well as joining the Foundation as one of its advocates herself.

From the perspective of the Foundation, the symbolism of real science and technology being inspired by science fiction is fitting. Also symbolic is that tau and zero are in the language of math, spanning all cultures of Earth back to ancient times. This is consistent with the Foundation acting in the interest of all humanity, its ambitions spanning historic time scales. And lastly, this name appropriately reflects the physics of relativistic spaceflight.

Welcome to the beginning of the Tau Zero Foundation.