ISSN 2397-9127 PRINCIPIUM The Newsletter of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies Issue 13 | May 2016 ■ Guest Introduction by Kieran Twaites ■ News from the Initiative ■ The 1,000 Year Starship ■ Sending ourselves to the stars? - 2 R O ■ Photo Feature: BIS Daedalus starship model F E V ■ Project Icarus: Introduction I T A I T I N I S T U D I E S www.i4is.org Scientia ad sidera Knowledge to the stars Principium | Issue 13 | May 2016 1 Here is a vision of this vessel from Alex's website www.thelightdream.net, quoted with the permission Editorial of its writer Richard Hayes - A vast spaceship stands out against the infinity of Our Guest Introduction is by Kieran Twaites, a the interstellar void. It has the distinctive design of student in year 9 at Reigate Grammar School, UK. an Enzmann starship, the huge front globe holding His thesis is "Warp drive is possible". Kieran has the deuterium propellant that powers its nuclear been interested in Interstellar Studies since 2012 fusion drive, with living quarters extending behind. when he was 10 years old. And he's been studying Many lighted windows show that it is crewed, and well beyond the school curriculum, as you will see. several generations may live and die on board before it reaches its destination. Its name stands Interstellar News this time reports on the latest out proudly – Demesne – and it might indeed be Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop (TVIW), the sole domain of these travellers for many years, the last few weeks of the Cosmonauts at the London possibly even centuries. Science Museum and perhaps the biggest news of the year 2016, Project Starshot. We also report new The engines of this spectacular craft achieve work of interstellar interest by both our own team speeds to a significant percentage of the speed of and others and welcome new volunteers helping i4is light, but they are now silent. We think that it might do a better job of advancing the Interstellar cause. have already achieved its cruising velocity, except for the existence of a smaller spacecraft which Our big feature this month is a meditation, both is approaching under power – such a hazardous positive and negative, on the prospects for human transfer is unlikely during the voyage. No, this interstellar flight, titled the1,000 Year Starship. starship is stationary, probably before the start of Stephen Ashworth is a well known commentator on its journey. matters interstellar. He has written numerous papers for the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. We question the purpose of the coming rendezvous His blog at www.astronist.co.uk is usually thought- between these vessels. A portal is opening in provoking, often controversial and always readable. the side of the starship, so the smaller craft is welcome. Perhaps the final members of the crew In this issue, I conclude my own musings on are arriving before their epic voyage begins, reaching the stars as Digital Persons, Sending anticipating the challenge of what awaits them – ourselves to the stars? Looking at the philosophy of and their descendants. Other Minds and wrapping up with some of the most thought-provoking ideas in this area from SF writers. And with lasers so much in our thoughts we have a beautiful laser spectrum diagram for our rear cover, Our i4is team member, Terry Regan, has now completed his 1:450 scale model of the BIS John I Davies, Editor, Principium Daedalus starship design. This time we have a [email protected] photographic taster, ahead of the formal unveiling of the model at the BIS Charterhouse conference later this year. Keep in touch! Join in the conversation by following the As regular readers will know, Daedalus was the first i4is on our Facebook page www.facebook. com/InterstellarInstitute major design study for an interstellar spacecraft. Its You can also become part of our profes- successor, Project Icarus, is a cooperative project sional network on LinkedIn www.linkedin. of the BIS and our friends in Icarus Interstellar. In com/groups/4640147 this issue we feature an introduction to this work by And take a look at the i4is blog, The Star- Peter Milne, BIS, and Rob Swinney, i4is. ship Log www.i4is.org/the-starship-log Follow us on Twitter at @I4Interstellar The front cover illustration this month is by our And seek out our followers too! old friend, artist and musician Alex Storer. It is Contact us on email via [email protected]. a modern visualisation of an Enzmann starship, Demesne. The views of our writers are their own. We aim for sound science, but not editorial orthodoxy. Principium | Issue 13 | May 2016 2 Warp drive is possible If you’d like to know how then please read on… INTRODUCTION There have been many apparently unbreakable escalator. It works because the star ship itself barriers that we have crossed. They said Man is not moving, it is merely the space time it is could not fly but the Wright brothers built the first sitting on is moving. All the Physics works, aircraft. They said the sound barrier could not be and the Maths is sound, however there is one broken, we built supersonic and even passenger problem I've always had with this theory; the jets that do it. We set ourselves the target of energy required is enormous, not just in normal landing a man on the Moon and returning safely. energy, but also in negative energy, a substance Travelling faster than that has opposite light is just the next properties to normal of these "impossible" matter (note: this is barriers to be breached. not to be confused with antimatter; How will this be done? which simply has a Please read on to find negative charge to out. their corresponding particles in the Everyone’s seen Star standard model of Trek, when Captain Kirk particle physics, as says to Sulu ‘warp factor far as we know so 9’, and the Enterprise 1) How an Alcubierre drive would work far), such as being goes zipping across the Galaxy, repelled by a gravitational field but how much fact is there in this fiction? rather than attracted to a gravitational field, The most popular and widely accepted warp and travelling away from an object when it drive mechanism is something known as an is attracted to it. This produces a negative Alcubierre drive, named after the scientist who energy density around the spacecraft, which first theorised it, Miguel Alcubierre. Simply put, prevents the whole thing from collapsing into Kieran Twaites space time in front of the star ship is compressed, a black hole. We have created extremely small and space time behind it is expanded a bit like an quantities of what we think to be negative My name is Kieran Twaites. I am 14, mad keen on Cosmology, Quantum and Temporal Mechanics, and hope in the future to change the way we look at space, time, and the inner workings of the Cosmos. I have been a member of i4is for 4 years and first became involved when I met Kelvin F Long, Executive Director of i4is, at the Starfest astronomy convention in 2012. Although I was only 10 years old at the time, I had many burning questions about liquefaction of space time and interstellar travel. Kelvin was very gra- cious and patient, answering all my questions, however daft they must have seemed to him. He then set me some questions about travel times to Pluto using different forms of propulsion. Kelvin kindly gave me a copy of his book entitled "Deep Space Propulsion" and we kept in touch by email. He continued to answer my questions as kindly as ever and we discussed my new thoughts on faster than light propulsion, most of which included science which was very much unproved at the time, such as the Higgs field or negative matter. I was invited to join i4is by Kelvin and jumped at the chance to get more involved. This led to me being asked to take the Interstellar Minimum paper last year. It was very difficult with many new concepts for me to grasp. Kelvin’s book was an invaluable guide and I was lucky enough to pass the exam and was award- ed my certificate by Rob Swinney at Starfest 2015. I try to keep up with all the latest developments and discoveries in Science. I regularly attend lectures at both the Royal Institution and Royal Society and have been lucky enough to chat with many eminent lead- ing scientists. They, like Kelvin, have taken all my questions seriously and given fantastic answers. These people, of which there are far too many to list, have inspired me to seek a career in Quantum Mechanics, Cosmology, and interstellar travel. I am very focused and driven in my desire to succeed in everything I attempt. Who knows what I can achieve with the help of others for the benefit of mankind? Principium | Issue 13 | May 2016 3 matter in the lab using something than the speed of light, the probably not, as - called the Casimir effect, where denominator must be the square a) we’ve never found any proof 2 plates are drawn together by a root of a negative number, so for their existence, and most larger pressure outside (created it is imaginary. To balance the scientists don’t think they exist at by quantum fluctuations, where equation and make the energy all, and matter – antimatter pairs are real, the numerator must also b) a substance that has imaginary created and destroyed) on the be imaginary.