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Initiative for Interstellar Studies

Working towards the achievement of interstellar flight through knowledge to the stars — Starships in our lifetime.

Your Gateway to Interstellar Studies

If you are interested in travel to world's beyond our own, to other star systems, and the discovery of new knowledge and life, you have come to the right place. The 20th Century was the time for the planets. The 21st Century is the time for the stars. This is the portal to the Cosmos.

Education

The i4is Educational Academy fosters educational abilities and supports research in interstellar studies, associated sciences and the arts. Read more » about Education

Sustainability

The Sustainability and Development Committee, has the purpose of seeking space-based technological solutions to solving problems on Earth and in space, human made or environmental, and improving the human condition and harmonising cultural relations. Read more » about Sustainability

Technical

The Technical Research Committee conducts innovative theoretical and experimental research and development across the broad spectrum of issues relating to interstellar studies, associated sciences and the arts. Read more » about Technical

Enterprise

The Enterprise Committee has the purpose of encouraging entrepreneurship and business innovation initiatives related to the objectives of the company. Read more » about Enterprise

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Featured News & Posts

Deutsche Welle – i4is asteroid mining research featured

27 November 2020

Andreas Hein presents some of the results form the i4is techno-economic analysis of asteroid mining in this excellent video. The paper: Hein, A. M., Matheson, R., & Fries, D. (2020). A techno-economic analysis of asteroid mining. Acta Astronautica, 168, 104-115.

Talk Series: Interstellar Precursor Missions

21 November 2020

On 24th Nov at 8pm UTC, Robert Swinney from the Initiative for Interstellar Studies presents a talk on interstellar precursor missions. Members of i4is can attend this talk live!

i4is Article published in Astrophysical Journal Letters

10 November 2020

We are proud that our article about a Venus astrobiology mission, based on a fleet of balloons has now been published in the prestigious journal Astrophysical Journal Letters. The article can also be downloaded for free via arXiv. We are grateful for the collaboration with Manasvi Lingam (Florida Institute of Technology / Harvard), without whose […]

Principium

Principium is the community magazine of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies and the Institute for Interstellar Studies (USA). It features educational articles, accessible technical articles and news from the interstellar community and the wider world of space exploration. It presents an … Principium » about Principium

Axiom

In 2015 and 2016 we produced three issues of our own academic education journal titled 'Axiom'. These issues aim to question existing paradigms of thought or basic assumptions of knowledge and therefore facilitate new enquiries of thought. The papers published vary from discussions on anthropological interactions among cultures, to the nature of intelligence in the Cosmos. Axiom » about Axiom

Starship Engineer

The Starship Engineer course is our collective brand name for a set of education courses that we run. These courses are designed to teach participants the basics of spacecraft starship engineering. Typically this includes a team workshop exercise where the attendees complete a technical design solution challenge before presenting their solution to each other. Starship Engineer » about Starship Engineer

Laser Sail Propulsion

The Initiative for Interstellar Studies are not just focussed on theoretical discussions about interstellar flight. We are also planning ground demonstrations of critical technologies and even a low Earth orbit (LEO) space mission demonstrator. Technical programmes Project Dragonfly and Project Glowworm are investigating laser sail propulsion technology to make humanity a space fairing species. Project Glowworm » about Project Glowworm