This document provides an overview of an academic presentation on interstellar flight given by Kelvin F. Long, the executive director of the Institute for Interstellar Studies. The presentation discusses the history of interstellar studies and proposals, including projects by the British Interplanetary Society. It also examines the fundamental requirements and challenges of interstellar travel such as the large amounts of energy needed and long mission times. Finally, it introduces the Institute for Interstellar Studies and its mission to promote education and technologies that could enable interstellar spacecraft.

1. Interstellar Flight:
Discovering the Limits of the Possible
Kelvin F. Long
kelvin.long@i4is.org
Executive Director
Institute for Interstellar Studies
Chief Editor, Journal of the British Interplanetary Society
Presented at UKSEDS, University of Bristol,
England, February 2013

2. Contents
• The British
Interplanetary
Society
• Interstellar
Studies
• The Institute for
Interstellar
Studies
2

3. The British Interplanetary Society
www.bis-space.com
3

4. The British Interplanetary Society
www.bis-space.com
4

5. BIS (from imagination to reality)
THE IMAGINATION WALL THE REALITY WALL
BRITISH
INTERPLANETARY
SOCIETY
Ideas (DOMAIN) Industry
Conjecture Academia
Creativity Government
Concepts Inventions
Stories Technologies
Solutions Spin-offs
philosophy careers
SPIN-IN SPIN-OUT
5

6. BIS Projects (Imagination to Reality)
BIS Project Megaroc (1946) NASA Project Mercury-Redstone (1960-61)
6

7. BIS Projects (Imagination to Reality)
Ross, H, “Lunar Space Suit”, Jbis, 9, 1, January 1950.
7

8. BIS Projects (Imagination to Reality)
J.Verne, “From Earth to the Moon”, 1865 H.G.Wells, “The First Men in the Moon”, 1901
Ross, H.E, “The BIS Space-Ship”1939. NASA Project Apollo (1969)
8

9. BIS Project KickSat
Project KickSat is an initiative of Zac Manchester, Cornell
University, USA and the BIS are launching a fleet of ChipSats or
Sprites into Earth orbit.
RECRUITS NEEDED!!
9

10. BIS Project 2033 (NEW Launch)
What is the state of space exploration in the year 2033?
Are you the next visionary?
Send us your submission RECRUITS NEEDED!!
10

11. Alpha Centauri Prize (New)
RECRUITS NEEDED!!
11

12. BIS Project STARDROP (New Launch)
Solar Thermal Amplified Radiation
Dynamic Relay of Orbiting Power
A project to design a 10 GW Solar Collector station in space capable of
delivering energy to a space habitat at the L5 point.
RECRUITS NEEDED!!
12

13. Standard Aerospace Engineering
Credit: NASA

14. Extreme Aerospace Engineering
Credit: Adrian Mann

15. “Imagining” Starships
Credit: David A Hardy

16. Motivations
“I can never look now at the Milky Way without wondering from
which of those banked clouds of stars the emissaries are
coming…I do not think we will have to wait for long”.
Arthur C Clarke
Sir Arthur C. Clarke
16

17. The Size of Space and Beyond
• Barred spiral galaxy
• 100-400 billion stars
• Oldest 13.2 billion years
• 1×1012Msun
• 200 million years to rotate
• 27kLY to the centre from the Sun
• 1MLY Diameter
• 1kLY thick
• Even if we could travel at the speed of light,
would take 27,000 years to reach Galactic
centre and would take 1 millions years for
any starship to cross entire galaxy, or 1,000
years to penetrate galactic thickness.
The Milky Way galaxy • Implications for Fermi Paradox: A
statement on the apparent contradiction
between our theoretical expectations for
intelligent life in the Universe and our
observations.
17

19. Voyager 1
• Launched 1977
• Currently at around 120 AU distance
• 1AU = 1.496×1011 m, so Voyager at
1.795×1013m. Light travels at 3×108
m/s, so Voyager at 59,840 s, 997
minutes or 16.62 light hours away.
• Travelling at 17.4 km/s or 3.67
AU/year, which is 0.0058%c.
• So would take 74,138 years to reach
Alpha Centauri if it was pointing that
way.
• Conclusion: We need to go faster and
further.
19

20. Interstellar Studies (1952)
Shepherd, L, “Interstellar Flight”, JBIS, 11, 1952.
20

21. Interstellar Books
21

22. Fundamental Requirements
• Energy: 1018 – 1020 J
• Power: 10s - 100s GW
• Cost $billions - $trillions
• Mission Time: 50 – 100s years
• Cruise Velocity: 2,000 – 3,000 AU/year
• Exhaust Velocity: 8,000 – 10,000 km/s
• Acceleration: 0.01 < g < 1
• Distance: 4 < LY < 20
• Unmanned Robotic Flyby Probe
• Unmanned Robotic Flyby Return Probe
• Unmanned Robotic Orbital Probe
• Crewed Minimum Return Ship
• Crewed Small Colony Ship
• Crewed Large World Ship

23. Advanced Space Propulsion
• Electric • Fission
• Nuclear Electric • Fission/Fusion
• Laser Thermal • Fusion
• Solar Thermal • External Nuclear Pulse
• Nuclear Thermal • Antimatter Catalysed Fusion
• Plasma Drives • Interstellar Ramjets
• EM Mass Drivers • Negative Energy
• Particle Beamers • Space Drives
• Solar Sails • Warp Drives
• Laser Sails • Worm Holes
• Microwave Beam Sails • Time Machines
The technology readiness maturity distinguishes
between ‘imagination’ and ‘reality’, conjecture and
application.
Physics  Engineering  Economics
√ √ √
23

24. Energy Sources for Starships
• Chemical: 0.000001 unit, ~13 MJ/kg
• Nuclear Fission: ×1unit, ~82 million MJ/kg
• Nuclear Fusion: ×10 units, ~347 million
MJ/kg
• Nuclear Fission/Fusion
• Antimatter Catalysed Fusion
• Antimatter: ×1,000 unit, 90 billion MJ/kg
• Propellantless Solutions
• Solar Sails
• Laser Sails
• Interstellar Ramjets
• Space Drives & Metric Drives
• Vacuum Energy
• Dark Energy
• Negative Energy
• Warp Drives
24

25. The Physics of Nuclear Fusion
• Sun confines fusion plasma by gravitational field.
• Tokamak uses magnetic field to confine plasma.
• ICF uses inertial mass of material to confine plasma.
• Balance of compression & ignition to deliver fusion energy
to engine.
• Ideal reactions: D(T,He4)n (radioactive) D(He3,He4)p
(charged particle, minimal shielding required).
• D + T He4(3.52MeV) + n(14.06MeV)
• D + D  T(1.01MeV) + p(3.03MeV)
• D + D  He3(0.82MeV) +n(2.45MeV)
• D + He3 He4(3.67MeV) + p(14.67MeV)
• Li6 + n  T + He4 + 4.8MeV
• Li7 + n  T + He4 + n - 2.5MeV
25

26. Fusion Triple Product (Lawson Criteria)
nT  10 m sKeV
21 3
For ~10keV plasma
n  10 m s
20 3
Confinement n 
Inertial ~1023cm-3 <1ns
Magnetic 10-6cm-3 ~few sec
26

27. National Ignition Facility (US)
• Neodymium glass laser
• Started operation 2009.
• 192 beams
• Deliver 1.8MJ to target.
• Potential output power
20MJ for ns but could
be high as 45MJ.
• Achievable gains >10.
27

28. Project Daedalus (BIS, 1973-1978)
Bond, A et al., “Project Daedalus”, Final
Study Report, JBIS Special Supplement,
1978. Credit: Adrian Mann
28

29. Project Daedalus (BIS, 1973-1978)
29

30. 30

31. Credit: Adrian Mann 31

32. Credit: Adrian Mann 32

33. Project Longshot (1988)
Beals, K.A et al., Projecty Longshot, An Unmanned
Probe to Alpha Centauri, N89-16904, 1988.
Credit: Christian Darkin

34. Project Orion (1950s-1960s)
Dyson, F, Interstellar Transport,
Physics Today, 21, 10, October 1968.
34

35. Enzmann Colony Starship (1960s)
Crowl, A, “The Enzmann Starship: History &
Engineering Appraisal”, JBIS, 65, 6, June
2012.
35 Credit: David Hardy

36. World Ships
World Ships (1980s)
Martin, A.R, World Ships – Concept, Cause, Cost, Bond, A & A.R.Martin, World Ships – An Assessment of
Construction and Colonisation, JBIS, 37, pp.243- the Engineering Feasibility, JBIS, 37, pp.254-266, pp.254-
253, pp.243-253, June 1984. 266, June 1984.
36 Credit: Adrian Mann

37. Space Infrastructure (Skylon)
Credit: Adrian Mann and Reaction Engines Ltd

38. STARWISP (1984)
1984: Starwisp: An Ultra-Light Interstellar Probe,
J.Spacecraft & Rockets, 21, May-June, pp.345-350,
Robert L. Forward. Credit: Mark A.Garlick

39. Interstellar Ramjet (1960)
Bussard, R.W, “Galactic Matter & Interstellar
Flight”, Astronautica Acta, 6, Fasc.4,1960.
39 Credit: Adrian Mann

40. 1963: Carl Sagan & Relativistic Flight
mo
mrel 
1 v2 / c2
2c 1  an S 
t  cosh 1  2 
an  2c 
Sagan, C, “Direct Contact Among Galactic Civilizations by Relativistic
Interstellar Spaceflight”, Planet.Space Sci, Vol, 11, 1963.

41. Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (1994)
41

42. Warp Drive Physics
ds  dt  [dx  vs (t ) f (rs (t ))dt ]  dy  dz
2 2 2 2 2
Alcubierre, M, The Warp Drive: Hyper-Fast Travel within
General Relativity, Class.Quantum Grav, 11-5, L73-L77, 1994.
42

43. NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project
1996 - 2002
Three visionary breakthroughs
were identified:
(1) Mass: propulsion that
requires no propellant
(2) Speed: propulsion that
circumvents existing speed
limits
(3) Energy: breakthrough
methods of energy
production to power such
devices.
43

45. 45

46. Project Icarus Pathfinder (1,000 AU) and Starfinder (10,000 AU) Concepts
46

47. Building an Interstellar Society
• Political
• Economic
• Business
• Socio/cultural
• Philosophical
• (e.g. religious)
• Psychological
• Legal
• Scientific
• Technological
47

48. The Emergence of “Interstellar Studies”
2000s
• Organisation
1990s • Co-ordination
“To the Stars…” 1980s
• Co-operation
• Friendly Competition
• Programmatics
• Strategic Roadmaps
1970s • BIS
• Technology Roadmaps
• TZF
• Mission Demonstrations
• Icarus Interstellar
• Infrastructure
• 100YSS
• Funding
• Books • I4IS
1960s
• Documentaries
• Films
• Articles
•
Concepts
• Papers
•
Designs
1950s • Projects
•
Inventions
•
Mission Architectures
•
Propulsion Specific
•
Sub-systems
• Feasibility Requirements
• Problem Scoping
• Constraints
• Requirements
• Ideas
•
•
Imagination
Conjecture
“…but with a Plan”
• Science Fiction
48

49. 49

50. The seeds of an Idea
50

51. 51

52. I4IS Logo
“Scientia ad sidera”
Knowledge to the Stars
52

53. Mission & Vision
• Mission Statement:
"The mission of the Institute for Interstellar Studies is to
foster and promote education, knowledge and technical
capabilities which lead to designs, technologies or enterprise
that will enable the construction and launch of interstellar
spacecraft."
• Vision Statement:
"We aspire towards an optimistic future for humans on Earth
and in space. Our bold vision is to be an organisation which is
central to catalysing the conditions in society over the next
century to enable robotic and human exploration of the
frontier beyond our Solar System and to other stars, as part
of a long-term enduring strategy and towards a sustainable
space-based economy.
53

54. Web Sites
www.I4IS.org www.interstellarindex.com
54

55. I4IS Newsletter: Principium
Editor: Keith Cooper
Production: Adrian Mann
55

56. Business Model
56

57. Educational Academy
• Purpose: To build the knowledge and
people capability
• 3 internal students
• 4 ISU Msc students:
• James Harpur, “design of 100 kg interstellar probe”
• Piotr Murzionak, design of an 550-1000 AU interstellar
precursor mission”
• Wei Wang, Review of deceleration options for an interstellar
probe”
• Eric Franks, “Agricultural methods for microgravity
environments”.
57

58. Research & Development
• Purpose: To conduct the fundamental
research, solve the problems, derive
solutions, insights and designs.
• CATSTAR
• OAKTREE
• Bussard
• SENTINEL
• Quantum Light
• Unruh
• BAIR
• Casimir
• GeV
58

59. Enterprise
• Purpose: To develop and spin-out the
technology developments as
innovations, business or enterprise.
• Similar to the Stanford University model of
the 1940s and 1950s when dean of
engineering Frederick Terman encouraged
faculty and graduates to start their own
companies, e.g. Hewlett-Packard, Varian
Associates…Silicon Valley
59

60. Project OAKTREE
60

61. Project Bussard
61

62. Project SENTINEL
62

63. Project Quantum Light
63

64. Project Unruh
64

65. Project BAIR
65

66. Project Casimir
66

67. Project GeV
67

68. CATSTAR PROGRAM
CubeSat Architecture Tests for Space Technology
And Readiness
Goal: To design
5. Mission
concepts and build Appication
4. Orbital
missions cheaply which System
(~$1000,000s)
can demonstrate Demonstrator
(~$100,000s)
interstellar related
technologies using
CubeSat and smaller 3. Engineering
Ground
devices, related Demonstration
architectures. (~$10,000s)
2. Physics
Principles
Validated
(~$1000s)
1. Physics
Principles
Understood
(~$100s)

69. “Travel to the stars will be difficult
and expensive. It will take
decades of time, GW of power, kg
of mass-energy and trillions of
dollars…interstellar travel will
always be difficult and expensive,
but it can no longer be considered
impossible”.
Dr Robert Forward, 1996.
www.i4is.org