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The 100 Year Starship (100YSS) organization, which was created after a 2011 agency-sponsored conference, is charged with developing the infrastructure needed to make it possible to launch a crew ...
- Damond Benningfield
Project Daedalus (named after Daedalus, the Greek mythological designer who crafted wings for human flight) was a study conducted between 1973 and 1978 by the British Interplanetary Society to design a plausible uncrewed interstellar probe. [1] Intended mainly as a scientific probe, the design criteria specified that the spacecraft had to use ...
- Abstract
- Introduction
- Nuclear Fusion
- The Z-Pinch
- Z-Pinch Fusion
- Practical Issues
- Summary and Conclusions
- Acknowledgements
- References
If we are to launch unmanned probes that can reach and explore the nearest stars within a human lifetime, we will need to develop new propulsion technologies enabling much higher velocities than are possible at present. Nuclear fusion is one of the leading options, but it has yet to be achieved sustainably at a commercial scale. Many different engi...
The stars above us have interested humans in myriad different ways since the dawn of civilisation. However, a specific interest in the astrophysicsof the universe beyond our own solar system seems particularly acute at present. This is partly due to the wealth of new science being done by space agencies around the world. For example, recent astrono...
2.1. Introduction to nuclear fusion
A detailed discussion of the physics of nuclear processes is outside the scope of this article. For those interested, a good treatment can be found in . However, in brief, Einstein’s famous equation E=mc2E=mc2 tells us that energy and mass are interchangeable, with very small amounts of mass being equivalent to very large amounts of energy, due to the conversion factor c2c2 (roughly 9×10169×1016, or ninety thousand trillion): total conversion of one kilogram of mass would create 90,000 TJ (te...
2.2. Approaches to achieving nuclear fusion
There are two broad engineering approaches to achieving nuclear fusion in the laboratory: 1. Magnetic Confinement Fusion (MCF)uses magnetic fields to confine the charged plasma, typically (although not always) within a ring doughnut-like toroidal container. The magnetic fields are necessary to ensure that the plasma does not touch the sides of the containment vessel, since at the temperatures required to initiate fusion any contact would lead to melting of the container and loss of containmen...
2.3. Project Daedalus
In the early 1970s, the BIS set up Project Daedalus to establish whether interstellar travel was practically feasible, or just the stuff of science fiction. The outcome of this ground-breaking volunteer-led project was a 1978 design for an Inertial Confinement Fusion-powered unmanned starship that would send a 450-tonne scientific payload on a flyby mission past Barnard’s Star, some 5.9 light years away and, at that time, seen as the most promising nearby star for scientific study.
A Z-Pinch occurs naturally when a large current passes through any medium. As shown in Figure 2 and described in more detail in Box 2, the current gives rise to a magnetic field in line with Fleming’s ‘right-hand rule’, and the magnetic field in turn generates an inward force on the current in line with his ‘left hand rule’. In the case of a Z-Pinc...
Having established that a Z-Pinch can compress a plasma and raise its temperature, we now explore what happens if the conditions are extreme enough to initiate fusion. The mathematics of a fusing plasma in a Z-Pinch are complex, so I will simply reproduce two key results from here.
Any spacecraft, whatever its propulsion system, needs to be carefully designed to ensure that it will function effectively in the unforgiving environment of space. The general details of spacecraft design are outside the scope of this article; a good introduction can be found in . However, the use of a Z-pinch fusion engine creates several specific...
This paper briefly explains why chemical rockets are not up to the challenge of sending spacecraft to the stars in a reasonable timeframe, and why nuclear fusion is one of the leading alternatives. It summarises the logic behind the choice of Z-pinch fusion as the preferred propulsion technology for the Firefly Icarus interstellar spacecraft. Follo...
Particular thanks are due to Robert Freeland II and Michel Lamontagne, as the inspiration for this article comes from their excellent 2015 JBIS paper summarising the Firefly Icarus concept; I have drawn heavily on that paper and some of Michel’s images within it here. Robert and Michel have also both been extremely generous with their help during t...
NASA, “NASA Releases Kepler Survey Catalog with Hundreds of New Planet Candidates”, www.nasa.gov/press-release/nasa-releases-kepler-survey-catalog-with-hundreds-of-new-planet-candidates (Last acces...Jet Propulsion Laboratory, “Voyager Interstellar Mission”, voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/interstellar-mission (Last accessed 18 July 2018).J Davies, “Tsiolkovsky – Interstellar Pioneer”, i4is Principium, issue 20, pp.21-28 (Feb 2018), www.i4is.org/publications/principium (Last accessed 18 July 2018).K E Tsiolkovsky, “The Investigation of World Spaces by Reactive Vehicles”, Scientific Review, St. Petersburg, No.5, pp.45-75 (1903).Oct 6, 2014 · Starship Icarus: With Katy Stoll, Daniel O'Brien, Soren Bowie, Cody Johnston. Sci-Fi comedy about the support crew on a giant starship. They comically battle problems with the ship and each other, while the unseen Captain and deck crew save the universe!
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- Katy Stoll, Daniel O'Brien, Soren Bowie
- Comedy
- Katy Stoll, Daniel O'brien, Soren Bowie
Jul 14, 2022 · Richey, Manuel, “Starship Alpha: The Case for an Earth-Based Proto-Starship”, Proceedings of 100 Year Starship Symposium, pp.365-379, 29 Oct-01 Nov 2015. Bae , Young K, “ Photonic Laser Thruster Laboratory Demonstration towards Interstellar Photonic Railways ”, Proceedings of 100 Year Starship Symposium, pp.385-404, 29 Oct-01 Nov 2015.
May 11, 2011 · Project Icarus is an ambitious five-year study into launching an unmanned spacecraft to an interstellar destination. The distance to the nearest star, a binary system named Alpha centauri, is 4. ...
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Principium is the community magazine of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies and the Institute for Interstellar Studies (USA). It features educational articles, accessible technical articles and news from the interstellar community and the wider world of space exploration. It presents an inspiring vision of the future humankind - if we work ...
