Problems and Perspectives in Interstellar Exploration (original) (raw)

A Roadmap to Interstellar Flight

arXiv: Earth and Planetary Astrophysics, 2016

In the nearly 60 years of spaceflight we have accomplished wonderful feats of exploration that have shown the incredible spirit of the human drive to explore and understand our universe. Yet in those 60 years we have barely left our solar system with the Voyager 1 spacecraft launched in 1977 finally leaving the solar system after 37 years of flight at a speed of 17 km/s or less than 0.006% the speed of light. As remarkable as this is we will never reach even the nearest stars with our current propulsion technology in even 10 millennium. We have to radically rethink our strategy or give up our dreams of reaching the stars, or wait for technology that does not currently exist. While we all dream of human spaceflight to the stars in a way romanticized in books and movies, it is not within our power to do so, nor it is clear that this is the path we should choose. We posit a technological path forward, that while not simple, it is within our technological reach. We propose a roadmap to ...

The Astronomical, Astrobiological and Planetary Science Case for Interstellar Spaceflight

Jbis Journal of the British Interplanetary Society 62 415 421, 2009

A review is presented of the scientific benefits of rapid (v 0.1 c) interstellar spaceflight. Significant benefits are identified in the fields of interstellar medium studies, stellar astrophysics, planetary science and astrobiology. In the latter three areas the benefits would be considerably enhanced if the interstellar vehicle is able to decelerate from its interstellar cruise velocity to rest relative to the target system. Although this will greatly complicate the mission architecture, and extend the overall travel time, the scientific benefits are such that this option should be considered seriously in future studies.

*Interstellar Transportation (Space Congress) 1993)

The Space Congress Proceedings, 1993

In order to realize interstellar civilizations in which the vast distances between star systems must be spanned in times much less than the lifetimes of the crew and the people remaining on the planets there must be a revolution in transportation technology. This paper surveys the general field of interstellar flight including concepts based on nuclear energy (both fission and fusion), antimatter, interstellar ramjets, beamed power, vacuum energy fluctuations and various forms of faster-than-light (FTL) travel.

The Path to Interstellar Flight

2020

Large scale directed energy offers the possibility of radical transformation in a variety of areas, including the ability to achieve relativistic flight that will enable the first interstellar missions as well as rapid interplanetary transit. In addition, the same technology opens a wide mission space that allows a diverse range of options from long range beamed power to remote spacecraft and outposts to planetary defense to remote composition analysis and manipulation of asteroids, among others. Directed energy relies on photonics, which like electronics is an exponentially expanding growth area driven by diverse economic interests that allows transformational advances in space exploration and capability. In order to begin to fully exploit this capability it is important to understand not only the possibilities enabled by it, but also the technological challenges involved and to have a logical roadmap to exploit this option. This capability is both synergistic with conventional pro...