PRINCIPIUM The Newsletter of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies Issue 15 | November 2016

ISSN 2397-9127

■■ Guest Introduction by Nick Kanas ■■ News from the Initiative ■■ i4is/ISU 2016: Space Environment & Spacecraft Systems Engineering ■■ Daedalus: Model and Art ■■ The Andromeda Study ■■ Book Review: Gypsy: Carter Scholz R O ■■ The art and imagination of David A Hardy F E V I

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S T U D I E S www.i4is.org Scientia ad sidera Knowledge to the stars

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 1 suggest that ultra-light spacecraft using laser-push technology look like our best chance for early Editorial interstellar missions. Welcome to Principium 15, the quarterly Our first book review for a while is by a new friend newsletter about all things interstellar. to i4is, Patrick Mahon. Patrick makes a strong case for Gypsy by Carter Scholz as the best hard SF Interstellar News this time reports on the 60th novella in many years. Patrick recounts its plausible birthday of BIS Spaceflight magazine. We hope we technology and rounded characters - still too rare in can be as good - and last as long! We report from interstellar SF. the annual Starfest of the North Essex Astronomy Society in Chelmsford and on our annual Progress Also promised last time, we celebrate the art and and Planning meeting. We greet two major films imagination of David A Hardy. David is both a on interstellar themes for the Christmas season grandmaster of SF and astronomical art and a good and chronicle the seemingly endless travels of our friend to i4is. Our piece concentrates mainly on Executive Director, Kelvin F Long. interstellar themes from David's vast portfolio. Our Guest Introduction this time is by Nick The front cover illustration this time is another work Kanas MD, who has advised NASA on astronaut of Adrian Mann, extracted from the i4is report on psychology over many years. He examines the our Andromeda project. It depicts the spacecraft psychological and sociological issues which may as it approaches its target star. Thanks, as always, arise for both generation ships and sleeper ships to Adrian for lending his talent to i4is and the on very long duration interstellar voyages. Nick is interstellar cause. Professor Emeritus of the University of California For our rear cover we have an image from David A. San Francisco and has also published several novels Hardy's science fiction work. In this case an image including one, The Protos Mandate, about a colony of the starship Liberator from the TV series Blake’s ship bound for an exoplanet orbiting Epsilon Eridani. 7. Despite the dodgy sets and dated effects it was Our series of reports on the i4is/ISU 2016 elective fine space opera made in an era when such stories on Interstellar Studies at the International Space were very rare on TV - or film for that matter. University, Strasbourg, continues with a summary Look out for the latest issue of our academic of the unit on Space Environment & Spacecraft education journal, Axiom, out now, and for Systems Engineering by Marc Casson of Surrey opportunities to help us achieve our interstellar Satellite Technology Limited (SSTL). goals, Working towards the real Final Frontier, And as his work takes its place at BIS HQ London, towards the end of this issue. You don't have to be a we compare Terry Regan's model of the BIS rocket scientist! Daedalus starship with the art of our old friend Comments on i4is and all matters interstellar are Adrian Mann. Technical photographer Paul Kemp always welcome. Write to me! places the model in a setting inspired by Adrian's John I Davies, Editor, Principium art. I think you will agree that both representations [email protected] of this historic design show the beauty which often arises from great engineering. Keep in touch! And as promised, Andreas Hein (Technical Director, Join in the conversation by following the i4is on our Facebook page www.facebook.com/ i4is) and Kelvin F Long (Executive Director, i4is) InterstellarInstitute give an account of the Andromeda Study. An i4is Become part of our professional network on team had three days to produce a design for a LinkedIn www.linkedin.com/groups/4640147 laser-propelled interstellar mission. This was the And take a look at the i4is blog, The Starship Log i4is response to a March 2016 request from the www.i4is.org/the-starship-log Follow us on Twitter at @I4Interstellar Breakthrough Initiative. Drawing on earlier work And seek out our followers too! including Project Dragonfly (see Principium Issues Contact us on email via [email protected]. 11 and 12, www.i4is.org/Publications#Principium) Back issues of Principium, from number one, can the team delivered in this very short time. The be found at www.i4is.org/Publications#Principium design differs in some ways from the Breakthrough Starshot proposal but both approaches, the earlier The views of our writers are their own. We aim for sound Project Dragonfly work and other recent studies science, but not editorial orthodoxy. Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 2 The Psychology and Sociology of

Interstellar Travel INTRODUCTION Professor Nick Kanas, University of California San Francisco, is a long established NASA researcher into the psychological and social issues arising in long duration space missions. Here he looks into the implications arising from very long duration interstellar missions for both multi-generational and "sleeper" crews. For over 15 years, my research colleagues the distances would be measured in terms of and I were funded by NASA to investigate light-years, real-time communication with the psychological and interpersonal issues affecting Earth would not occur, and the crew-members near-Earth manned space missions[1, 2]. The would have to rely on their own resources to results of our work and studies from other labs survive. If suspended animation is planned, have isolated a number of psychosocial issues this will have non-trivial ramifications on the that are characteristic of these missions[3]. psychology of the crew-members. If it is not For example, crew-members working in used, then a multigenerational approach will be orbiting space stations experience isolation and needed. The number of births and deaths must confinement in an environment fraught with be matched in order to conform to the limited danger and psychological challenges. Transient space and resources available on the starship. depression and psychosomatic problems have Consequently, social control will need to be occurred. Personality conflicts can result after established that would govern coupling and one to two months, and interpersonal tension can interpersonal relationships. arise. This on-board tension may be displaced Let’s examine some of the psychological and outwardly to people working in mission control, sociological ramifications of an interstellar Nick Kanas, M.D. disrupting the crew-ground relationship. People mission lasting 107 years to a planet around the from different cultural backgrounds can have star Epsilon Eridani, which is 10.5 light years different experiences, especially in terms of away[4]. Assume that the vehicle is a giant perceived work pressure. starship with a crew of around 280 people. Problems resulting from such stressors can be One way to minimize the vicissitudes of countered by supportive activities from flight such a long mission is to put some or all of surgeons and psychologists on Earth and by the future colonists in suspended animation. frequent audiovisual contact with family and In this scenario, after the critical activities friends. However, this support may be less involving the launch and course verification effective during future exploratory missions to are completed, the crew-members would Mars or beyond, where the long distances and enter capsules that would slow down their mission durations, the delayed communication physiological functions until such time as times, and the need for the crew to be more they neared their final destination, when the autonomous lessens the effectiveness of crew would be revived to perform landing countermeasures initiated by crew-ground and colonization activities. The space vehicle interactions[3]. The crew-members will have to would be on autopilot during most of the deal with all emergencies themselves, including mission, with computers monitoring life medical issues and psychiatric problems such as support and navigational progress. However, suicide and psychosis. the technology involved with putting people In researching the background for my second in suspended animation and later reviving science fiction novel, The Protos Mandate[4], I them is complicated. Although freezing is used had to consider what some of the psychosocial today to preserve red blood cells and corneas issues would be involving a large group of people for transplantation, the ability to freeze and engaged on an expedition to colonize a planet later thaw whole bodies whose organ systems orbiting a distant star where the outbound journey are composed of differentiated cells with would last for over a century. In this scenario, their own freeze-thaw rate profiles is beyond

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 3 our abilities in the foreseeable arrival and colonization of their on a 200-year expedition to future[5]. Ice crystals can form exoplanet destination. Also, Alpha Centauri. He attempted during both freezing and thawing these individuals would vividly to establish a stable population procedures, and these can damage remember the Earth and the that could be productive and live cells. In addition, areas of the family members and friends within the physical and supply body can be deprived of oxygen they left behind. Unlike modern constraints of the mission. His from blood clotting or premature day immigrants, there would be findings supported a model that freezing before metabolism is no possibility for return to their began the mission with a crew of slowed down, leading to cell original homeland after landfall. young, childless married couples death and the likely demise of the Subsequent generations would be who would be asked to postpone individual. less affected, since the only home parenthood until the women But even if suspended animation they have ever known would be were in their mid-30s. Since the becomes technically possible, the starship. In all likelihood, birthrate would be controlled, problems could still occur. images and stories of the Earth small sibships comprising one or Over the course of a 100-plus would be preserved and might two children of the same parents year mission, power surges or become the subject of mythic born close to each other in time breakdowns of the suspended tales over time. would help to maintain genetic animation equipment could As the mission progressed, the variation. Over time, three well- occur. In addition, an impending crew-members would experience defined demographic echelons freezing procedure could create an increasing sense of isolation would occur, each 30 years apart. psychological problems in and separation from the Earth, The middle adult echelon would people fearful of being helplessly with no hope of evacuation or perform most of the tasks needed incapacitated for decades or assistance from home during to support the mission, and as worrying that some unanticipated emergencies. The tremendous they aged they would become threat could occur to the distances involved would senior statesmen who would equipment, such as a meteoroid increase the average two- take over some of the teaching penetration. Many people would way communication times to and childcare for the youngest prefer a multigenerational option minutes, then hours, then days, echelon. In this way, resources for a space colony mission, since then years. Consequently, there would be distributed equally, they would be awake and more in soon would be no opportunity without too many old or young control of their destiny. to speak with loved ones back people and with the birth rate set In such a multigenerational home. In fact, the Earth would to match the death rate. mission, the selection of the become an insignificant dot in This kind of social engineering initial crew-members would the heavens. No human being has raises a number of questions. be an issue. Who would be ever experienced the Earth in this Will later generations view these selected? How many family manner, the so-called ‘‘Earth- echelons as a normal part of life, members would be allowed to out-of-view phenomenon’’[3]. or will they rebel? How would come along? Who would be The profound sense of isolation the echelon system cope with a left behind? How much cultural resulting from this situation disease or accident that suddenly and religious diversity would be could result in increased kills a lot of people? How will permitted? How would a diverse homesickness, depression, and this society deal with people enough gene pool be assured other psychological problems that comfortable with travelling in to minimize the appearance of would affect many of the crew- space who may not want to land dangerous recessives? These are members. on a planet, or who will want difficult questions that would have What about the sociological to return back to Earth? Where ramifications throughout the entire structure on board the starship? would criminals or mentally ill mission. Some of the ethical and individuals be housed in such a In addition, unique psychological demographic issues of such confined environment, and who effects would impact on the a mission have been studied would watch them? first generation. Even though by Moore[6]. Using computer Anticipatory planning for dealing they signed up to participate modelling technology, he studied with the psychological and in the mission, they would a potential interstellar crew sociological issues described never live to see the ultimate of 150-180 people travelling above must be made prior to Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 4 departure. In all likelihood, by D.S., Saylor, S.A., Kozerenko, International Publishing the time of the first interstellar O.P., and Marmar, C.R. (2007). 4. Kanas, N. (2014). The mission, humans will have had Crew-member and mission Protos Mandate: A Scientific much experience coping with control personnel interactions Novel. Switzerland: Springer long term space missions and during International Space Station International Publishing. colonies to closer destinations, Missions. Aviation, Space, and 5. Stratmann, H.G. (2016). such as planets and moons in the Environmental Medicine (now Using Medicine in Science Solar System and icy bodies in Aerospace Medicine and Human Fiction. Switzerland: Springer the Kuiper Belt and Oort Cloud. Performance), 78:601–607. International Publishing, pp. However, the on-board leadership 2. Boyd, J.E., Kanas, N.A., 211-248. ISBN 978-3-319- of an interstellar mission will need Salnitskiy, V.P., Gushin, V.I., 07901-1, www.springer.com/gp/ to be mindful of the impact of Saylor, S.A., Weiss, D.S., and book/9783319079011 unanticipated psychological and Marmar, C.R. (2009). Cultural 6. Moore, J.H. (2003). Kin- sociological events on the psyche differences in crew-members based crews for interstellar of the crew-members and the and mission control personnel multi-generational space travel. stability of the social system, and during two space station In: Kondo, Y., Bruhweiler, they must be prepared to make programs. Aviation, Space, and F.C., Moore, J., Sheffield, C. interventions to cope with these Environmental Medicine (now (Eds.): Interstellar Travel and events as the journey progresses. Aerospace Medicine and Human Multi- Generation Space Ships. Performance), 80:1–9. Burlington, Ontario, Canada, References 3. Kanas, N. (2015). Humans Apogee Books, pp. 80-88. 1. Kanas, N.A., Salnitskiy, V.P., in Space: The Psychological Boyd, J.E., Gushin, V.I., Weiss, Hurdles. Switzerland: Springer

About the Author Dr Kanas is a Professor Emeritus (Psychiatry) at the University of California, San Francisco. He is a former NASA- funded research Principal Investigator who has written about manned space travel for over 40 years, most recently the book Humans in Space: The Psychological Hurdles. He has also written three science fiction novels: The New Martians, The Protos Mandate, and The Caloris Network.

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 5 Interstellar News John Davies with the latest interstellar-related news. Andromeda mission patches, Credit: K F Long BIS Spaceflight 60th hope to report on in the next issue birthday of Principium. The Andromeda Our warm congratulations study, reported in this issue, to the British Interplanetary shows what the team can achieve. Society magazine Spaceflight on the 60th anniversary of its Summer Placements June first publication. The BIS is our 2017 - Reaction Engines Ltd We often feature the work of older sibling and Spaceflight Reaction Engines in Principium. is therefore our cousin, or a Along with several more famous close relation, to Spaceflight. US-based organisations like Take a look at the anniversary SpaceX and Blue Origin, they issue (Spaceflight Vol 58 No aim to cut the costs of access to 10 – October 2016) it includes space - a vital precursor to an reminiscence by veteran space interplanetary and interstellar artist David Hardy who is culture. And their founders featured elsewhere in this issue include the Daedalus project of Principium. We hope to last leader, Alan Bond. Next summer as long as Spaceflight! It was they are offering 12 week launched in October 1956 just summer internships to students about one year before Sputnik concepts for propulsion. The studying for science, engineering 1 in October 1957. Within 13 pioneer work of Project Dragonfly or business-related degrees. years we had the first human is being built upon. And the The closing date is the end of on an extraterrestrial body, the concepts arising from the i4is November so we hope we are Moon, Apollo 11 June 1969. association with Breakthrough out on schedule in time for this! If we want to achieve our first Starshot, reported in the last www.reactionengines.co.uk/ interstellar milestone, say the issue, are important but there careers_038summer2017.html launch of a small probe to Alpha is also parallel work which we Centauri, in the same timescale then we had better get moving! The first issue of Principium was December 2012 so our scientists and engineers, and their peers worldwide, have about 9 years. No pressure guys! The Reaction Whatever happens Principium Engines core technology: aims to continue to inform SABRE and entertain all who feel that outward urge so well expressed by Konstantin Tsiolkovsky "Earth is the cradle of humanity, but one cannot live in a cradle forever." Back down to Earth at Principium, your monthly Spaceflight began as a quarterly, like Principium. But we have aspirations! i4is Technical Committee The i4is Technical Committee coordinated by Andreas Hein continues to work on advanced

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 6 Stevenage (now Airbus i4is Progress and Planning Defence and Space), the meeting issues of launch capacity i4is is a very distributed and civil/military organisation so we especially interaction which John value the occasions when we can explored are still with get together, either as the core us today. Contact him team who lead our work or in via [email protected] if you larger gatherings. An example of would like a copy of his the former was our September 16- i4is at Starfest 2016 presentation or the 1970 19 meeting. Rob Swinney (i4is Director of presentation to ESRO and NASA For your editor it was both a Education) and John Davies on which it is based. chance to "meet the management", were at the annual Starfest of the our leadership team of Kelvin North Essex Astronomy Society Schools Outreach F Long, Rob Swinney and As we reported last quarter, John in Chelmsford. We spoke to many Andreas Hein - and see a little Davies and Rob Swinney (i4is astronomy enthusiasts, from the of the seaside and countryside of Director of Education) have fanatical to the casual. Thanks one of England's beautiful West been planning a major event for to all who visited our stall and Country. Progress and Planning schools in London. This will especially to those who requested meetings are our best chance of be the Interstellar Challenge of subscriptions to Principium - getting down to details of how far London Schools. We are working Welcome to your first issue! we have come and where we are with STEM Learning (www.stem. Alongside some far more going and this was no exception. org.uk), the British Interplanetary distinguished presenters from Several of our board members Society (BIS) and the Outreach Queen Mary University of including Robert Kennedy from Department of Imperial College, London, Cambridge University the USA and Stefan Zeidler London. We also have the and the Scottish Dark Skies from Germany were also able support of student volunteers Observatory, John Davies to attend a Skype AGM as part from ICSEDS (www.union.ic.ac. presented a nostalgic "The Hubble of P & P. We also welcomed our uk/guilds/icseds). Much more Telescope that never was" John new Marketing and Membership about this in the next issue of reminisced about a project he manager, Dave Miller, who will Principium when we also hope to was involved in which studied be ensuring we reach out and have more about rolling out ideas a possible space telescope to be serve the interstellar community from this to schools in the UK, launched by a space shuttle and - both the virtual full timers like Europe and the world. compared these early designs those at our P&P meeting and the with the Hubble and Shuttle as seriously interested, like most it was built. Based on a 1970 Principium readers. design study Kelvin and the at Hawker- family made us all Siddeley very welcome at Dynamics, the Long residence and showed us the sights of coast and countryside.

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 7 Passengers starship Avalon from trailer Credit: Sony Pictures

Interstellar Adventures on a generation starship, I think we for interstellar enthusiasts as well Film should assume! Will they change as providing romance and action. Interstellar is a more and more Chris Pratt (of the most recent The ship rotates (see the trailer) attractive topic for big budget Jurassic movie) and Jennifer and appears to have 1G inside films. We note two in particular Lawrence (of The Hunger Games so we can guess the rotation rate for late 2016 release. series) in CGI or make-up so and work out how big it is! My they look like centenarians at own best guess is about 1 RPM so Passengers is a romantic thriller the end of the voyage? And how it's about 2km diameter and thus about a sleeper ship (not very many generations will they have several km long. dramatic unless we have dream produced? There's also some Arrival is a drama about the sequences!) where the two most serious non-romantic action when arrival of mysterious aliens - attractive people on the ship just the pair have to save the ship. saving us the trouble of building happen to wake up by accident. The details of the ship and the starships! It's already been seen And there is still 90 years to go hibernation mechanism are not yet at the Venice Film Festival and on the voyage so we now have available so this will be intriguing

Alien ship with Chinook helicopter approaching. From the official Arrival trailer, Credit: Paramount Pictures

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 8 Kelvin in USA and Belgium Kelvin Long, i4is Executive is now on general release. It’s a Director, was at a series of heavier theme than Passengers. meetings of the Breakthrough The film is based onStory of Your Starshot advisory committee Life, a short story by Ted Chiang. in the USA in August. We The two principal characters try covered i4is involvement in this to understand the language and magnificent initiative in earlier mathematics, respectively, of the issues of Principium. aliens Chiang has invented - on Kelvin was also in Brussels at the wilder fringes of what we the BIS Belgium Annual Space might imagine. Symposium 2016 in October. One of the "big brains" of SF, He presented “Interstellar Travel China Miéville, has a very high – Can we reach the stars?” opinion of the story, the collection looking at past, present and future from which it comes, Stories of activities in space that move us Your Life and Chiang as a writer. towards becoming an interstellar- capable civilisation. Let's celebrate these films for An anecdote: Kelvin looked for evidence they bring that our a cheap hotel deal (we always culture is beginning to see do!) but found himself at the 5 interstellar flight and alien contact star Hotel Metropole, site of the as part of the mainstream. famous 1911 Solvay physics conference. These were the men - and one woman - who invented modern physics.

1911 Solvay Conference at the Hotel Metropole, Brussels. Can you spot - Marie Curie, Albert Einstein, Henri Poincaré́́, Max Planck, Ernest Rutherford and Hendrik Lorentz? Lots of others too! Credit: Benjamin Couprie, 1911 / Wikipedia

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 9 The space environment and spacecraft systems engineering

Voyager spacecraft, Credit NASA

Spacecraft mission systems engineer Marc Casson of Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL) summarises his contribution to the ISU elective module, Interstellar Studies, delivered to the Masters course of the International Space University (ISU )in May 2016.

Introduction This part of the ISU course was to provide students with an overview of spacecraft systems engineering and what would have to be considered when applying these principals to designing an interstellar spacecraft. There were three main sections; the interstellar space environment, the spacecraft design process and the spacecraft bus.

The space environment Given the operational lifetimes required for an interstellar spacecraft (many decades instead of just years), there would be many additional challenges to those in conventional spacecraft design. In a conventional spacecraft, the space environment results in challenges due to vacuum, mechanical/thermal conditions, charging and radiation. For an interstellar mission, heavy amounts of radiation would damage the spacecraft over time, affecting its ability to reach its destination. Also, cosmic dust and the affects of the interstellar medium when travelling at high velocity would slowly degrade a spacecraft structure. The effects of surface charging and mechanical/thermal stresses could probably be mitigated with careful design considerations, such as good conductor grounding, thermal control and proper material selection. However long term radiation degradation would require particular attention. In a conventional spacecraft, the hardware has to be designed to cope with total ionising dose (TID) over time and individual heavy ions that cause single event effects (SEEs). For an interstellar spacecraft, due to the long mission lifetimes Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 10 WHAT CAUSES IN-SPACE FAILURES?

. According to JPL, most failures are caused by environmental factors within space, mostly due to radiation effects or surface electrostatic discharge (ESD).

. The data above shows that 20.7% of failures are caused by factors due to the space environment. The reason for the high percentage of unknowns is that if spacecraft telemetry is lost, there’s no way to properly diagnose what went wrong as spacecraft ‘housekeeping’ data will not have been transmitted.

Initiative for Interstellar Studies www.I4IS.org Page 5 involved these effects would be monitoring would help keep the The spacecraft design much more pronounced. However, spacecraft safe. It would also process the use of technologies that are be necessary to have some level There are generally three main known to be tolerant to radiation of automated recovery within stages in spacecraft design; (such as silicon on sapphire), the spacecraft since human mission concept, mission triple mode redundancy, error intervention (given the signal definition and then detailed bus detection and correction (EDAC), travel times) would be highly design. Concepts involves looking watchdog circuits and current delayed.

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 11 at the plausibility of a mission- link with Earth. This means help determine the spacecraft what can be achieved, potential that Earth can receive all the data storage requirements, the architectures and probable cost. science data and keep an eye on downlink rate and contact time Mission definition involves taking the spacecraft health (referred with the ground station. the concept and further defining it, to as telemetry). Given the vast Bus sub-systems examining payload requirements distances involved in interstellar and initial mission budgets (such missions, the link will involve low Once the spacecraft mission has as mass, link, power, propellant, bit rates and large ground stations. been well defined, the detailed pointing accuracy). From this 3. Mass budget; feeds into the bus design can start. The starting stage, if it is agreed the mission launch requirements and delta-V point is the budgets and concept can be built it will move into the budget to ensure the spacecraft that have been established in the detailed bus design stage. mass is kept within reasonable earlier design process and then limits. building the systems to satisfy Mission budgets these budgets. However, as in any 4. Power budget; all the systems engineering project, some degree There are several mission budgets have to have sufficient power at of trade off will occur. that have to be maintained and both beginning of life and end updated throughout the spacecraft of life, the power budget ensures Any spacecraft can generally be design process: - this. However, the systems will broken down into several major 1. Delta-V budget; used to ensure also run from batteries that will sub-systems, this section will the amount of fuel on board is have charge/discharge cycles. The provide an overview of these sufficient for maintaining attitude, power budget thus ensures that the systems and their application to orbit correction etc. An interstellar discharge depth is never too large interstellar missions: mission would require a system that the batteries lose efficiency. 1. Payload; the scientific of high efficiency and reasonable 5. Payload budget; the instruments instruments specific to the thrust to position a spacecraft of on board will collect large mission; for an interstellar (likely) large mass. amounts of data but given the program these would likely be 2. Link budget; so that the vast distances to the stars it can’t similar to what is commonly spacecraft has sufficient RF power be downloaded in real-time. used on modern spacecraft. to maintain a communications Thus the payload budget will For example, spectrometers, magnetometers, observation

A nuclear powered craft, NASA Prometheus, Outer Planets concept

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 12 cameras at a variety of will directly correlate to the link GPS.’ wavelengths. budget analysis, determining how 5. Propulsion; used for attitude 2. Power; the power budget and much output power required and correction and for propelling mission scenario will dictate the how to demodulate the signal. the spacecraft to its destination. type of power system to use. 4. Attitude and orbit control The method used will be heavily Modern spacecraft use either system; used to determine the dictated by the propellant and solar, fuel cells or radioactive spacecraft's attitude and the mass budgets for the attitude thermo-electric generators. direction it is pointing. For correction. For the primary However an interstellar mission an interstellar mission, the propulsion system to reach would likely require a nuclear transmitter will have to be interstellar distances, the major fission (or fusion if technology accurately pointing towards Earth drivers will be how to generate progression allows) source. This and thus a highly accurate system the required thrust to achieve is because of the likely high would be required. However, relativistic velocity while also amounts of energy required for conventional star positions having an efficient fuel that both the spacecraft bus and the couldn’t be used because of the doesn’t require enormous amounts propulsion system. stellar parallax that would occur of propellant on board. 3. Tracking, telemetry and when moving large distances. command; provides the data Therefore, a possible solution transfer to/from the spacecraft may be to use pulsars with known and ground station. Its design rotation frequencies as a ‘galactic

CASE STUDY- VOYAGER

Communications: - The uplink is in the S-band frequency domain (about 2GHz) while the downlink is X-band (about 8GHz). - All uplink and downlink data is via the large 3.7 metre antenna, ensuring high gain in both directions. - When the spacecraft was at Jupiter, the bit rate was 115kbits per second, however this decreased as the spacecraft travelled further away. - The bit rate drop was compensated slightly by adopting larger antennas on Earth, eventually combining multiple antenna signals into one in a process called interferometry.

About the Author Initiative for Interstellar Studies www.I4IS.org Page 51 Marc Casson is a Spacecraft mission systems engineer at Surrey Satellite Technology Ltd (SSTL). SSTL is a British company delivering small satellite missions, an independent part of the Airbus Defence & Space group. Marc has an MEng in Aerospace Engineering from the University of Sheffield and a Masters in Space Technology and Planetary Exploration from the University of Surrey.

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 13 The BIS Daedalus Model by Terry Regan: Model and Art

Regular readers of Principium will need no introduction to Terry's magnificent model of the Daedalus starship as devised by the BIS team in the 1970's, lead by Alan Bond and Tony Martin. As we reported in the last issue, this was unveiled to universal admiration at the BIS Charterhouse conference in July. This photo essay shows details of the final form of the model as photographed by Paul Kemp, Terry's cousin. Paul's "day job" is technical photography but some of these pictures aim to capture the artistic vision of Daedalus as envisaged by Adrian Mann. Adrian has been frequently featured in these pages but try Google Images or bisbos.com and be amazed again at what he has achieved over the years.

The two stages of the completed model - showing staging Credit: Paul Kemp / Terry Regan

Second stage firing Credit: Paul Kemp / Terry Regan

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Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 14 The two stages - showing staging as visualised by Adrian Mann Credit: Adrian Mann/ BIS

Second stage firing as visualised by Adrian Mann Credit: Adrian Mann/ BIS

I think you will agree that this is world-class - perhaps even out-of-the-world class? Imagination is vital, both technologically and artistically if we are to take our species to the stars. Terry, Paul and Adrian are in the front rank of those who provide us with the vision of what we might achieve if we strive for it. David Hardy, féted elsewhere in this issue, is the pioneer. And none of the current work would exist without the BIS Daedalus teamwork nearly 40 years ago.

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 15 The BIS Project Daedalus Fusion Starship Sponsored by The Initiative for Interstellar Studies Built by Terry Regan Picture credit: Gill Norman / BIS

See it at the headquarters of the British Interplanetary Society, 27-29 South Lambeth Rd, London SW8 1SZ. Contact BIS via www.bis-space. com. Better still, join!

Terry Regan

Adrian Mann

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 16 HOW TO DESIGN A STARSHIP IN THREE DAYS The Incredible Story of the i4iS Andromeda Probe Study: A Femto-Spacecraft to Proxima Centauri Andreas Hein and Kelvin F Long. included Rob Swinney, Richard work and calculations were also Introduction Osborne, John Davies, Stefan conducted by the i4is team to The field of interstellar studies Zeidler, Angelo Genovese, Bill give improved insights into the has taken probably the most Cress, Martin Langer, Dan Fries, problems and potential solutions. important step in its history Nikolas Perakis, Lukas Schrenk, The results of our teams work, when on the 12th of April 2016, Marc Casson, Sam Harrison, complemented work done by the physicist and entrepreneur Adrian Mann and Professor others (particularly Professor Yuri Milner announced Project Rachel Armstrong. Peter Philip Lubin and scientists Starshot: A $100 million research Milne also gave from Harvard University), and development program for a some consultancy to give the Breakthrough laser-propelled gram-sized probe assistance. This Initiative confidence in to Proxima Centauri. However, Andromeda Probe the concept of a laser- the spectacular announcement was mission patch sail mission to the stars, preceded by careful evaluation team performed and Yuri and his team of different options for the above and beyond went live on the 12th Starshot architecture. The Project the call of duty and April 2016 to announce this Starshot team has been informed were eventually awarded incredible and inspiring project. from various sides regarding the with the i4is Alpha Centauri In the rest of this short report, we architecture of the mission and prize and a specially designed will provide an overview of the had consulted certain groups. Andromeda probe mission patch. mission architecture, subsystems During early 2016, the Initiative The report was titled “Initial of the spacecraft, and the for Interstellar Studies had also Considerations for the Interstellar proposed beaming infrastructure been asked by the Breakthrough (Andromeda) Probe: A Three that was derived by the i4is team to provide its own Day Study” and it was delivered Andromeda probe team during perspective on a laser-propelled on the desk of the Breakthrough our brief 3-day study. interstellar mission. This was Initiative by the following especially because we had Tuesday. This represented an been running our own Project astonishing effort by the team, Dragonfly, an ongoing laser sail who dropped ‘normal life’ to project that had been launched focus 100% on doing a good job in 2013. During March 2016 for the Breakthrough Initiative Executive Director Kelvin F and their innovative Project Long met with the Breakthrough Starshot. The main requirements Starshot team whilst on a visit that the team had to design for to NASA Ames Research Centre included (i) laser sail propulsion in San Francisco, California. (ii) 50 year Andromeda Probe The result of this meeting led time of flight Report to the assembly of a group of (iii) 10% speed experts within the i4is team, who of light cruise velocity (iv) had to design a starship in three the target was assumed to be days. The briefing was giving within the Alpha Centauri A/B late on a Friday evening, whilst system at around 4.3 light years Kelvin was on a stopover in away (v) gram-scale mass. New York. Andreas Hein then Working with the Breakthrough assembled the team which also Initiative, some subsequent

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 17 Figure 1: Sequential lenses for sustaining laser beam focus on the sail (Landis, 1989)

The Andromeda Probe that uses dielectric materials and use a large sail. However, we that have very high reflectivity leverage on recent innovations Before we present our mission values, which allows for a high that could have a disruptive architecture, we present two power flux on the sail, as the sail effect on how we think about key parameters for a laser sail does not absorb as much heat as laser sail missions. First, we use mission. All existing mission a material with low reflectivity a segmented lens, meaning that architectures take a certain spot values (Landis, 1989). Finally, the lens that focuses the beam on within this coordinate system. Phil Lubin’s proposal for a laser- the sail consists of several lenses A laser-propelled interstellar propelled interstellar mission that are positioned sequentially. mission comprises two basic went to the extreme by proposing Each individual lens has a size of elements: the laser infrastructure an acceleration within minutes a few hundred metres. This is still and the spacecraft. First, the to velocities of 20% of the speed larger than anything that has been longer that the laser beam from of light, only possible by using put into space. However, recent the infrastructure can hit the materials with a 99.9999% advances in 3D-printing have now spacecraft with the laser sail, reflectivity that still need to be lead to a stage where in just a few the longer it accelerates and the developed (Lubin, 2016). years, large truss structures of higher its final velocity. However, up to 100 metres can actually be the longer the distance to the The key parameter is the size of manufactured in space. The lenses spacecraft from the laser, the the sail and correspondingly its are put at different locations along more difficult it gets to focus the mass. The smaller the sail, the the path the spacecraft intends to beam on the sail. Hence, either more difficult it is to hit it with travel. Each time the spacecraft you accelerate the spacecraft the laser beam. But a smaller sail passes a lens, the laser beam is extremely quickly, in order to is also lighter. The larger the sail, transmitted from lens to lens and avoid any focusing issues or the easier to hit, but also heavier. each subsequent lens refocuses you accelerate for a long time. Furthermore, the larger the sail, the beam on the spacecraft. But in the latter case, you need the lower the power density, as With this approach, kilometre- a kilometre-sized lens. In the the beam is spread out on a larger sized lenses can be avoided. former case, you need a lot surface. Again, past concepts have Ten sequential Fresnel lenses, of power and you need a sail positioned themselves differently each with a radius of 95 m, are material that can withstand the with respect to this trade-off. The used. Circular structures of this extremely high power flux (up to concepts of Robert Forward and diameter are currently conceived dozens of GW per square metre). Geoffrey Landis proposed large by Tethers Unlimited for in- Previous laser sail missions have sails, mainly to reduce the power orbit manufacturing. A potential positioned themselves in the long flux by distributing it on a larger Fresnel lens material is Graphene acceleration spot of the trade surface area of several square sandwich. Graphene lenses have space due to material temperature kilometres. Conversely, Professor been demonstrated in the lab in limitations (Forward, 1984). If the Lubin proposed to use a sail of 2016. A graphene lens is expected power flux from the laser is too just a few square metres. to be extremely light. The lens high, the material will absorb too The i4is Andromeda architecture infrastructure is shown in Figure 1 much heat and the sail will simply positions itself similar to past (Landis, 1989). melt away. Geoffrey Landis was laser sail architectures: We use the first to propose a concept a long duration for acceleration Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 18 The parameters for the laser infrastructure are given in Table 1. It shows that the laser beam power is orders of magnitudes lower than for the architecture proposed by Lubin. The Figure 2: Overview of spacecraft components acceleration distance with about 2 astronomical units (300 Mkm) is also much shorter than previous architectures. battery is used. Beta-voltaic Kelvin, the cosmic background The second innovation is carbon batteries directly convert the temperature. As the power output nanotube sails. They have been impact of radioactive of such a battery is below 1 W, Table 1: Key parameters of the laser particles from a the energy needs to be stored and infrastructure radioactive material accumulated, in order to enable into electricity, in short bursts of communication Laser infrastructure power [MW] 1150 contrast to radio- with Earth over interstellar isotopic batteries distances. For storage, recently which use heat to developed graphene capacitors are Lens radius [m] 95 generate electricity. used that have an extremely high The advantage is power density and can be rapidly Number of lenses 10 a higher efficiency discharged. and smaller size. In the following section, we The battery serves Acceleration distance [AU] 1.8 will provide an overview of the two purposes. spacecraft’s configuration. Figure Cruise velocity [%c] 10 First, it powers 2 shows the configuration of the the spacecraft spacecraft with its subsystems. subsystems. Second, The large cylinder is the camera proposed by Greg Matloff it heats critical components of (Matloff, 2012). Although with its lens aperture. The the spacecraft that need to be Whipple shield protecting against carbon nanotubes have a very kept at temperatures above 3 low reflectivity value, they have interstellar particles is located at the advantage that they Figure 3: Orthographic Layout are extremely light and Drawing for Interstellar Probe can withstand very high temperatures. Further innovation has been inserted in the subsystems of the spacecraft. We propose an inflatable camera aperture that can be extended, once the probe nears Proxima Centauri and its recently discovered exoplanet. The camera is at the same time used for taking pictures but also as a star tracker for navigation in interstellar space. For power supply, an advanced beta-voltaic Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 19 Table 2: Mass budget for spacecraft Subsystem Technology Description Mass [grams] Payload Sensor package • Sensors are microelectromechanical system 2.4 (MEMS)-based. Even MEMS spectrometers have recently been developed. • The startracker with a foldable aperture is used at the same time as a camera. Gram- sized startrackers are already available today. A MEMS camera is used.

On-Board Data Nano Field- On-board computer for processing data weighing 1 Handling system Programmable Gate a few grams already exist. Array (FPGA)-based On-Board Data Handling system Power Graphene • The supercapacitors are used for storing 6.5 supercapacitors + energy. Prototypes of this technology exists Nuclear battery already. • Gram-sized nuclear batteries have been proposed within the CubeSat community. An alternative is the use of very long electrodynamic tethers that can harvest electric current from the interstellar medium.

Structure Rigid Graphene Based on an extremely light material such as 0.1 matrix a Graphene or Carbon Nanotube composite material. Communications Laser Laser or radiofrequency-based communication 3 is deemed to be feasible. For the laser-based communication with an area of 0.1m. Attitude Momentum wheels, MEMS field-emission electric propulsion 1 Determination MEMS FEEP (FEEP) is used, which is a mature technology. and Control thrusters It allows for very small thrust levels and System (ADCS) weighs in the orders of grams, including the propellant. The thrusters are used for occasional desaturation of the momentum wheels. Navigation Star tracker / camera Camera is used. - + telescope Interstellar dust Graphene Whipple Graphene is used as a Whipple shield. The 2 protection shield spacecraft is flying into flight direction showing its thin side. Momentum wheels are needed for keeping the spacecraft showing this side into flight direction. The momentum wheels are desaturated by the FEEP thrusters. Bus mass 15 Sail Graphene sandwich 4-layer Graphene sandwich (Radius: 34m) 8 The sail is attached to the spacecraft via thin Graphene wires. Total mass 23

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 20 the front of the spacecraft. This communicates. The power for the continues its flight into interstellar part is facing the direction of communication system is supplied space. Using the FEEP thrusters flight. by the graphene supercapacitors and momentum wheels, the which are slowly charged by spacecraft keeps its orientation Figure 4: Spacecraft with folded into flight direction in order camera aperture for protecting against to minimize the impact of interstellar matter interstellar dust. Once arriving at the target star system, measurements and pictures are taken by using the on- board sensors and camera with telescope.

Summary The work performed by the i4is Andromeda probe team was astonishing given the short time we had to complete the work. We also contributed positively Figure 3 shows an orthographic electromagnetic tethers. to the inspiring Breakthrough view of the spacecraft without The laser array that is located in Initiative Project Starshot. the sail. The size of the depicted space has a total power output of The architecture chosen by the spacecraft is about twice the size 1.12GW. This solution is preferred Breakthrough Initiative team is of a smartphone: about 12 cm to an Earth-based system; there different to that recommended by 10 cm. The grey area is the are no atmospheric losses and the by the i4is team, (ie ground antenna transmitting data using a laser beam can be continuously based beaming versus space based beaming). But there are clear benefits in a ground-based Figure 5: Spacecraft with deployed antenna panels beaming approach in the interim, including nearer term maturation of the required architecture. The Breakthrough Initiative has also gone for a 20% speed of light mission, which is a lot more challenging than a 10% speed of light mission, but where would physics be without challenges? The main implications of this is a different laser power requirement that moves from around 1 GW up to something around 100 GW. There are many physics laser beam. In order to decrease pointed at the spacecraft sail. 10 and engineering challenges to be the cross-section of the probe intermediate lenses keep the beam solved on the programme, and during flight through interstellar collimated. these were listed during the April 12th 2016 announcement by Yuri space, the antenna is folded during Figure 6 shows the mission flight. The lens aperture for the Milner. With effort, determined architecture. The spacecraft commitment and the will to camera is also folded, as shown in is accelerated over a distance Figure 4. succeed we are confident that the of 1.8 astronomical units (270 stars can be won. Figure 5 shows the spacecraft million km) by a space-based with the unfolded antenna. The laser array. After its acceleration antenna is unfolded and pointed phase, the graphene sandwich at Earth each time the spacecraft sail is detached and the spacecraft Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 21 References Forward, R., 1984. Roundtrip interstellar travel using laser-pushed lightsails. J. Spacecr. Rockets. Landis, G., 1989. Optics and materials considerations for a laser-propelled lightsail. Lubin, P., 2016. A Roadmap to Interstellar Flight, JBIS, 69, pp.40-72. Matloff, G.L., 2012. Graphene, the Ultimate Interstellar Solar Sail Material?, JBIS, 65, pp.378-381, .

Figure 6: Mission architecture

The Andromeda spacecraft approaches its destination (Credit: Adrian Mann)

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 22 The Initiative for Interstellar Studies presents

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Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 23 BOOK REVIEW: Gypsy: Carter Scholz Reviewed by Patrick Mahon Following on from three film reviews in recent issues Star( Wars: The Force Awakens in Principium 12, The Martian in Principium 11 and Interstellar in Principium 9), we turn back to books. Here is a review of a hard SF novella that combines a rigorous approach to the science and engineering of interstellar travel with a strong cast of characters and an all too believable plot. SF where such concerns are Hard versus soft SF others. The constraints imposed irrelevant. His 2015 novella on a story by such an approach Travel between the stars has Gypsy, though, is a hard SF tale are manageable when writing been a core element of written par excellence, which considers science fiction for many decades. in great detail the many practical However, faced with the almost problems inherent in a decades- unimaginable distances and long journey to our nearest star. energies involved, many SF The plot authors have chosen to gloss over the challenges of interstellar The background to the story is spaceflight by adopting invented familiar enough, extrapolated physics or engineering solutions as it is from today’s many such as warp drives, hyperspace, global challenges. Scholz wormholes and the like, allowing imagines a planet which is being starship crews to travel much overwhelmed by a perfect storm faster than the speed of light of over-population, rampant so that they can reach their capitalism, resource depletion, destinations within a matter of war, climate change and hours or days, rather than decades aggressively nationalistic politics. or centuries. Given an author’s Come the 2030s, a brilliant physicist called Roger Fry, having understandable wish that their Cover Credit: PM Press characters still be alive when decided that humanity is doomed, about space travel within the they arrive at their target planet, starts a project to send a manned solar system. However, as soon such shortcuts are forgiveable in spacecraft to Alpha Centauri, as travel between the stars is the service of getting on with the intending to colonise whichever mooted, a hard SF approach story. of the exoplanets there is most comes up against real problems. amenable to human life. Over the On the other hand, some authors The design for Project Daedalus following few years, Fry secretly of so-called ‘hard SF’ have envisaged a fusion-powered recruits a team of like-minded tried to limit themselves to the ship reaching 12% of the speed scientists and engineers to beg, use of technologies that do not of light. Even at this incredible borrow and steal the technologies contradict the laws of physics as speed, travel to our nearest star, they need for their mission. Come we currently understand them. For Alpha Centauri, which is 4.3 light 2041, the starship is launched many, the pre-eminent exemplar years away, would take 36 years. from Earth orbit on a journey of this approach would be Sir That’s a long time for the crew of intended to take 72 years to reach Arthur C Clarke, whose fiction a fictional starship to twiddle their their destination, with a crew of is filled with spacecraft based thumbs before they get to their sixteen in suspended animation on sound science. More recent destination. pods on board. exponents would include Alastair Carter Scholz, an American SF Reynolds, Stephen Baxter and Although the ship’s Artificial writer, normally writes literary Kim Stanley Robinson, amongst Intelligence is able to deal with Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 24 many problems itself, some are breakdown, fungal infections engineering knowledge to solve beyond its capabilities. In 2043, a amongst the sleeping astronauts, these problems. In my view, this mere two years into the mission, a failure to deploy the magsail is a story that should be required one of the astronauts is woken intended to slow them down as reading for all sixth form students from her enforced slumber to deal they approach their destination of STEM subjects, but it’s also with just such an issue. Sophie and so on. The longer they’re out a great piece of storytelling, full quickly realises that the ship’s there, the more such failures there stop. fusion engine didn’t complete are. Will they make it to Alpha its burn correctly. As a result, Centauri in one piece? And if But is it realistic? they are cruising more slowly they do, will they find a habitable Readers of Principium will, than expected, meaning that the planet to land on? of course, want to know how journey to Alpha Centauri will realistic the story’s science and now take 84 years, 12 longer than Is it a good story? engineering is. As a former expected. This might not sound Putting the technical details to physicist who has been out of too bad, but with the mission one side for a minute, Gypsy is the field for over two decades, already on the edge of technical an extremely impressive story I’m not sure I’m too well-placed feasibility, the extra flight time has about real people overcoming to give a definitive judgement. a major impact on the likelihood real problems. As each astronaut However, Scholz has included of success, with the mission’s is woken to deal with an issue, a lot of plausible-sounding risk of failure increasing from Scholz gives us their backstory technologies and measurements. below 20% to over 50%. Sophie in a way that makes them a For example, the ship is a twenty does what she can to compensate three dimensional individual, metre diameter, 100 metric tonne for this, then goes back into whilst showing how their life dry weight torus that rotates twice hibernation.

Alpha Centauri and the Southern Cross. Credit;Claus Madsen/Centauri Dreams

Over the following decades, experiences led to them joining a minute to provide artificial one after another astronaut is the crew. We see one after another gravity of one-tenth Earth normal. woken up in order to deal with struggling to deal with whatever The propulsion system uses other such problems, including the ship has thrown at them, an anti-proton fusion engine a communications system and yet using their scientific and to launch out of Earth orbit, a

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 25 magsail to provide a decade of The Propulsion System deceleration at the other end, Carter Scholz has set up a website to illustrate some aspects of the story and a gas-core nuclear rocket on (www.gypsyweb.net) this includes a page of references (www.gypsyweb. arrival, aided by gravity assists net/references.html). around both the stars in the In an interview with F&SF when they published the story, he referred to Alpha Centauri system. Although basing the workings of the ship’s propulsion system on a paper written by I don’t think I’m in a position a team at Penn State University. From his list of references, this appears to to judge, Scholz did say in an be the AIMStar paper mentioned below, which, amongst other things, gives interview with Fantasy & Science the Specific Impulse of the fusion drive their proposed fusion drive as being Fiction magazine, who published 61,000 seconds. the story in their November/ AIMStar: Antimatter Initiated Microfusion For Pre-cursor Interstellar December 2015 issue, that he did Missions, Raymond A. Lewis, Kirby Meyer, Gerald A. Smith and Steven D. a lot of background research, and - Howe Laboratory for Elementary Particle Science, Department of Physics based the physics and engineering The Pennsylvania State University on published academic papers Presented at the 35th Joint Propulsion Conference and Exhibit Los wherever he could. Angeles,CA,U.S.A. There are a couple of aspects of Abstract: We address the challenge of delivering a scientific payload to the story that I would question. 10,000 A.U. in 50 years. This mission may be viewed as a pre-cursor to Most obvious is the central idea later missions to Alpha Centauri and beyond. We consider a small, nuclear that Roger Fry and his colleagues fusion engine sparked by clouds of antiprotons, and describe the principle basically steal everything they and operation of the engine and mission parameters. An R&D need from their employers without program currently in progress is discussed. anyone noticing. This seems Retrieved 25/10/2016 from http://citeseerx.ist.psu.edu/viewdoc/ pretty unlikely in the Big Brother download?doi=10.1.1.577.1826&rep=rep1&type=pdf society they are supposed to inhabit. In addition, the timeframe for the story seems a little too optimistic, as it pre-supposes poignant’ when he included it bomblets at launch (from Earth that fusion will be a working and in his 2016 anthology. I agree orbit), a fission reactor to start scalable technology by 2040, wholeheartedly. If you want to up the second fusion engine on which is now a mere quarter of a read a science fiction story that arrival at Alpha Centauri, and century away. treats the incredible challenge onboard heat and electricity is of interstellar travel with the provided by a Plutonium 238 Nonetheless, keeping in mind seriousness it deserves, get hold powered Radioisotope Thermal that this is a piece of fiction rather of a copy of Gypsy. In addition Generator (RTG) (cf Voyager than a research study, I think to being available in F&SF and 2). The ship’s mass is 100 metric Scholz has done a pretty good job in Dozois’s anthology, it’s also tonnes (p.135). of creating a plausible hard SF available as the main story in a scenario that still enables him to • Pp.91-92: details of the 2015 collection of Scholz’s short communications system. tell a cracking story. fiction from PM Press. • P.93: their actual velocity is Conclusion Summary of technical details 0.056c, not the planned 0.067c, I have now read Gypsy several covered in the story (pagina- probably due to the failure of the times, and I still think it’s the tion from F&SF, Nov/Dec 15): igniters in some of the fusion bomblets. This adds 12 years to best hard SF novella I have had • Pp.89-90: the ship is a rotating the mission duration (84 years, the pleasure of coming across in torus. It rotates twice a minute instead of 72), which increases many years. I’m not alone in this, to provide artificial gravity the from either. No less an SF luminary of 0.1g. External structure: risk of mission failure under 20% to over 50%. than Gardner Dozois, the editor of outside the ‘floor’ are water probably the best annual survey tanks, then aerogel sandwiched • Pp.94-95: Why they picked of short SF available in the UK between carbon composites, the Alpha Centauri as a target. and USA, called it ‘nail-bitingly liquid (slush) hydrogen tanks. tense’ and ‘heartbreakingly • P.96: Sophie sets the ship up Propulsion uses nuclear fusion to brake later and harder when Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 26 they arrive, in order to reduce the they’ll need at the other end. effects. But the two stars are now journey time. much further apart than they were • P.114: a magsail as the means of 12 years earlier, when the ship • P.98: the crew complement was slowing down at the destination. 20, but one shuttle didn’t make it, was planned to arrive… • P.115: technology. so they’ve actually got 16 people EVA suit • P.139: When Rosa wakes up in aboard. • Pp.116-117: Sergei fixes the 2125, she sees that she has aged, problem with the deployment of • P.98: Ship’s speed and distance which wasn’t supposed to happen. after first minute, hour, day, year. the magsail (a tripped fuse!), but She looks over 60. “In its first few minutes, the[ ship] because he’s in a hurry and hasn’t • P.140: the origin of the ship’s tethered himself to the ship, his advanced less than a kilometre. (and story’s) name Gypsy: In its first hour it moved two reward is separation from the ship they are landless, orphaned and thousand kilometres. In its first and a lonely death in the EVA dispossessed. suit. day, a million kilometres. After • P.142: Rosa has to do the a year, when the last bomb was • P.117: mission fuel calculations to start up their , and the value of expended, it would be some two requirements 20GW gas-core fission reactor thousand astronomical units from the magsail in reducing this. at the right time, so the hydrogen the Earth, and Gypsy would coast • P.118: details of the fusion exiting the rocket with 2 million on at her fixed speed which[ bomb approach to propulsion. newtons of thrust slows them was supposed to be 0.067c] for More details of the propulsion enough. During closest approach decades.” systems: an anti-proton fusion to Alpha C-B, the outer hull heats • P.99: Date of launch is 10 engine on the way out; a magsail to 2,500 Kelvin. September 2041. to slow down on arrival; then a • P.144: a list of the equipment • P.100: details of the technology gas-core nuclear rocket on arrival, they’ve brought to create the aided by two gravity assists. of the fusion bomblets. colony when they land. • Pp.122-124: Project creator • P.101: their ‘suspended • P.145: Sophie wakes in 2126. helps a Greek oligarch to animation’ technology is actually Roger She is now really old, and has to induced hypothermia. build a spaceship full of dual- 3D print some glasses to be able use technologies: nominally • P.105: details of the to read the paper logs. She’s the great as a lifeboat in orbit, while only crew-member still alive. technologies monitoring the Earth slowly destroys itself the sleeping astronauts and below, but also excellent for a • Pp.146-148: the science exercising their dormant limbs. mission to Alpha Centauri. When instruments show Sophie that the Also, Reza is covered in fungal it’s completed, they then steal it! 4th planet around Alpha C A is growths despite UV lights & It is 10 metres long by 20 metres potentially habitable, with a N-O other precautions in the suspended wide (not circular?), a torus, and atmosphere and liquid water! animation pods to prevent this. weighs 100 metric tonnes (dry). Sophie controls the 2nd braking This appears to be due to him manoeuvre around Alpha C-A – being repeatedly warmed and • P.124: the fungus has killed most but it’s not enough! They are still refrozen several times in failed of the crew. travelling at twice the system’s attempts to wake him up, but may • P.126: There is 2 years of further escape velocity… They will miss also be due to the gene therapy magsail deceleration to go. They the planet by 0.002 AU (about that Fang developed to enable the are 300AU out from Alpha C and 180,000 miles). Sophie maps the suspended animation. travelling at 0.001c. planet and send the data back to • P.112: mission analysis phases – • Pp.126-7, 129-130: the magsail Earth. these were solved by developing fails when they hit the hydrogen • P.151: Two weeks later, she the Gypsy website (nominally a wall at the heliopause of Alpha C, receives a message from Earth: geeky gaming site, but actually a so he jettisons it. Going far faster they fixed things! Earth didn’t front for a set of starship design than planned, the only viable destroy itself after all. And the ‘games’). solution left is to shoot close message says that they honour the to each star and use the fission • P.113: how they built the ship, memory of the Gypsy crew and and then filled it with the cargo engine to brake whilst close to their mission. them, as this will multiply its Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 27 The Initiative for Interstellar Studies is Hiring!

For the moment this is pro bono - though we have ambitions. We produced the flyer above for the BIS Charterhouse Conference, July 2016, but the message is, of course, universal. We have new team members already helping but we need more - from all the talents and from all parts of this planet. Get in touch with any of our team if you have a drive to help us go to the stars - or just email [email protected]

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 28 Plot summary: hope that it will work. She can’t assists with the two suns. He stick around to check, because if In Sep 2041, the Earth is dying manages it, starts the manoeuvres, she stays awake any longer, she (climate change, peak oil, writes the log, and goes back to won’t be able to hibernate again. resource wars, flooding, etc.) and sleep. In 2125, Rosa wakes up. So she goes under, and hopes that a small band of renegades steal Like Zia, she’s surprised how old her solution will work. , the resources to build their own In 2118 she looks and feels. Zia is dead – (the trained astronaut) starship and launch it towards Sergei he went back to sleep but didn’t is awoken and realises that the Alpha Centauri. In 2043, Sophie reattach his stents (deliberate, or magsail intended to slow them (one of the 16 crew-members) an accident?). Rosa refines Zia’s down as they approach Alpha wakes from suspended animation orbital calculations, and performs C has not deployed. He does an – so something must need her the first burn past Alpha Cent A. EVA to fix it, finds that a circuit attention. She works out that the The ship gets very hot, but they breaker has flipped – and because scientific data they’re sending survive the close encounter, and he’s cold and in a hurry, he resets back to Earth in no longer being they’ve halved their speed. She’s it immediately, without thinking. received and acknowledged, so done her bit, and goes back to It starts the magsail deployment their buffer is full and they’re sleep. In 2126, Sophie wakes for process immediately (saving the losing new data. Much more a second time (see 2043). She’s mission), but also disrupts the seriously, though, their fusion old, and all the others are dead. system holding him to the outside engine’s burn didn’t complete The mission has failed, but the of the ship – and he floats away, properly, so they are going to be Alpha C system DOES include untethered and without an MMU, 12 years late getting to Alpha C, one habitable planet (out of to his certain death. , taking 84, rather than 72, years – In 2120 Zia five). She completes the braking wakes to find that his body has which increases the risk of critical manoeuvre around the second aged horribly. As the numbness component failure from <20% to sun – but they don’t have enough wears off, he starts to feel pain, >50%. Oops. Sophie fixes the first fuel, and the ship is still going and passes out when he tries to problem, changes the schedule for too fast afterwards to be captured sit up. But he eventually manages decelerating at Alpha C to regain by the gravity of the Alpha C to get up, and finds that most of some of the lost time, and after system. She’s failed. They’ve all the other crew have died from the five days she goes back to sleep. failed. As they head away from fungal infection. They are now a In 2081, Chinese-Irish Fang Tir the system into interstellar space mere 300AU away from Alpha C, Eoghain wakes up, when they’re once more, she starts to compose and he realises that the magsail about halfway there. She finds poems. Then the radio comes on! isn’t slowing them down as it that the ship has tried three times It’s Earth – they sorted out their should, probably because they’re to wake Reza, without success. problems, and everything is fixed. entering the local equivalent of She finds that Reza is still alive They salute the mission and say the heliopause. Then the magsail – just – but small dots of fungus goodbye. And Sophie continues fails, probably due to that. And have started to grow on his skin. on into infinity. when he looks for the EVA suit to Is the suspended animation system go out and fix it, he realises that faulty? Then she finds that another it, and Sergei, are gone – though crew-member, Loren, is infected he doesn’t know whether this with fungus too. Fang is the expert was accident or suicide. So he on this system, and she spends jettisons the magsail and tries to 10 days finding a solution and work out a new way to slow them implementing it – but she can only down sufficiently, through gravity

About the reviewer Patrick Mahon is an i4is member who works in the waste and resources sector. He was encouraged to study mathematics and physics at university after falling in love with astronomy and spaceflight when Sir Patrick Moore gave a talk to his school’s astronomy club in 1981, the same year as the first Space Shuttle flight. He now writes science fiction in his spare time.

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 29 The art and imagination of David A Hardy John I Davies

We reported in our last issue that our old friend, the "grandmaster" of space art, David A Hardy, was chief guest speaker at the joint AGM of the Science Fiction Foundation (publishers of Foundation, the Review of Science Fiction) and the British Science Fiction Association (BSFA) at Imperial College, London, 25 June 2016.

Proxima 1972 The most effective extrasolar scenes are often those with a red sun, whether a red supergiant or a dwarf. One of the latter is our closest stellar neighbour, Proxima Centauri, a small member of the Alpha Centauri system. This was painted, in acrylics, for The Challenge of the Stars with Patrick Moore in 1972. In order to have liquid water, the planet would need to orbit the red star in 10 days. The constellation Cassiopeia can be see with an extra star - our Sun.

Nature, August 2016). More later First let's cut to the (interstellar) about The Challenge of the Stars. chase. All images are courtesy of As David told us at Imperial, David Hardy (www.astroart.org) astronomical imagination is a long Back in 1972 (44 years ago!) established art - quoting the 1874 David at Imperial in June 2016 David painted the above image of example below. an imagined planet of the nearest David illustrated the imaginings His work has inspired many of star to Earth. of the British Interplanetary us - starting with his early work As we now know the period Society (BIS) from the 1930s with Patrick Moore, still the of Proxima b is 11.6 days and through to the 50s - adding to the most important populariser of "water could be liquid on its famous R A Smith illustrations of astronomy and space travel in the surface" (see A terrestrial planet the BIS Moon mission proposal UK. Patrick is sadly no longer candidate in a temperate orbit and bursting into print as early as with us but David is still batting around Proxima Centauri, 1952 at the age of 16. He began as he enters his ninth decade. This Guillem Anglada-Escude, School to be commissioned for SF book celebration of his vision is based of Physics and Astronomy, Queen covers as well as the popular to some extent on his account Mary University of London et al, science works of writers like at Imperial in June but I have concentrated on his early work and his contribution to interstellar studies. David began producing space art in 1950, age 14, and began work with Patrick Moore four years later (Patrick was in the RAF in the Second World War so was a little older!). More of David's bio at www.astroart.org/hardy-profile.

Mt Pico illustrated in The Moon, James Nasmyth, 1874 - based on a photograph of a plaster model.

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 30 David began to get joint credit with Patrick for books like The Challenge of the Stars. Here he is Fomalhaut system at the launch in 1972 with Arthur C Clarke, who wrote the foreword Patrick Moore and he imagined system with a Saturn-like planet to Patrick and David's book. the moons of the outer planets imagined surviving the dust and long before we had spacecraft out gas which has been observed Back in 1972, Patrick and David there. around that star. were already envisaging exotic Getting back to interstellar, David Even further, what might our forms of propulsion. Below is the has often envisaged planets, stars Galaxy look like from an earth- Photon Starship from the same and galaxies as they might be. like planet whose star had been book. Here's the rather dusty Fomalhaut ejected to a place above the galactic plane?

Photon starship from The Challenge of the Stars

Some of his work has been a little bigger. Here is a 24 by 8 foot mural, another planet of a red star. He's especially fond of stars of this colour.

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 31 Again in the early 1970s a short lived UK magazine, Science Much of his work has, of course, Fiction Monthly, was published overlapped into fantasy and here's in colour with a newspaper size an example that reminds me of the format and imagination of aliens i4is logo... beyond the "bug eyed monsters" of earlier years. David envisaged these "lava lamp" like creatures.

..which in turn inspired our Principium 9 front cover. Will our laser spacecraft ever And he produced more terrestrial attain the romantic appeal of books, for example Energy and square-riggers? We can't leave out the BIS the Future in 1979. Daedalus, of course, below But starships could not be kept is David's illustration from a out. Below is an ion propulsion Marshall Cavendish book in the ship from that book. 1980s. Daedalus ion propulsion ship

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 32 Enzmann starships

And very different designs inspire us. Here's an Enzmann You may recall Alex Storer's starship painting which i4is interpretation of an Enzmann Executive Director Kelvin Long from our P13 front cover commissioned from David. David has long been an More about Enzmann in inspiration to younger artists like Retrospective: Art, Science and Alex. Lollipops:the story of the Enzmann Starship in Principium 7 (www. i4is.org/Publications#Principium).

Dragonfly

David continues to inspire us with images like this - the heading of Andreas Hein's piece on the i4is Dragonfly laser push project - showing the winning entry of the 2015 competition from the Technical University of Munich team.

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 33 David has provided front cover images for Principium and the first i4is book, Beyond the Boundary. Below is Alien SETI - which we used on the cover of Principium 5.

More See more about David and his art from the 1950s to the present on his site www.astroart.org. And look for Hardyware: The Art of David A. Hardy, with text by Chris Morgan, Paper Tiger, 2001. For a fuller list of And here is the Beyond the David's author credits see the Boundary front cover. Summary Bibliography: David A And David has kindly provided Hardy in the Speculative Fiction our back cover image for this Database www.isfdb.org/cgi-bin/ issue, the Liberator from that ea.cgi?21486 favourite 1970s space adventure, Alien SETI Blake's 7. And finally David's Daedalus and Orion "dancing"!

The Dance of Angels: Daedalus & Orion dance around Saturn, from the story by Kelvin Long in Visionary, a BIS anthology.

About the writer John Davies, editor of Principium, was first inspired to take an interest in space by the brilliantly drawn Dan Dare, Pilot of the Future, strip in his weekly Eagle in the early fifties. The originator and artist, Frank Hampson, born 1918, inspired many people, not least Alan Bond of the Daedalus project and Reaction Engines. John is privileged to present this sample of the art of David Hardy, another inspiration to both newcomers to space science and technology and those of us who have seen so much progress in the many decades of David's career.

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 34 The world’s first interstellar academic education Issue 3 out journal! now from lulu.com Buy issues 1-3 today!

Issue 3 includes - • Is the Concept of (Stapledon) Universal Mentality Credible? : Kelvin F Long • Origin of Life, Inflation and Quantum Entanglement: Tong B Tang • How Might Artificial Intelligence Come About? Different Approaches and their Implications for Life in the Universe: David Brin

NEXT ISSUE

In the February 2017 issue we'll have more from the May 2016 i4is/ISU course Interstellar Studies. We'll report from the Interstellar Challenge for London Schools and outline our plans for taking it to other parts of the UK, Europe and the world. We'll also report from our Starship Engineer course at BIS in November. And we'll be reviewing those two interstellar-themed films, Arrival and Passengers. And more, of course!

Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 35 Mission The mission of the Initiative 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 We aspire towards an optimistic future for humans on Earth and in space. Our bold vision is to be an organisation that 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.

Values To demonstrate inspiring leadership and ethical governance, to initiate visionary and bold programmes co-operating with partners inclusively, to be objective in our assessments yet keeping an open mind to alternative solutions, acting with honesty, integrity and scientific rigour.

We'd love to hear your thoughts on Principium, the Initiative or interstellar flight in general. Email - [email protected] - or come along to Facebook, Twitter (@I4Interstellar) or LinkedIn to join in the conversation.

Editor: John I Davies Deputy Editor : Kelvin F Long Layout: John I Davies

The Initiative For Interstellar Studies is a pending institute, incorporated in the UK in 2014 as a not-for-profit company limited by guarantee.

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Front cover: Andromeda project - I

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I spacecraft approaching target star. N Credit: Adrian Mann I Back cover: Starship Liberator from the TV series Blake’s 7. Credit: David A. Hardy S T U D I E S Principium | Issue 15 | November 2016 i4is.org 36