Initiative for Interstellar Studies

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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 inspiring vision of the future humankind - if we work hard to achieve it.

Principium is a quarterly free publication of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies. You can download copies of all issues below. Here's the latest! Members of i4is can access select articles from upcoming issues of Principium before they are made publicly available.

We hope you enjoy reading our magazine.

John I Davies & Patrick J Mahon, Editors, Principium

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Principium Issues

Issue 47 | November 2024

P47 frin cover

Principium 47

Click on the highlighted items to see individual sections

Editorial

FROM THE Editorial
After 10 years and 41 issues John Davies will be stepping down as Editor after the 50th issue, August 2025. He will be working with Deputy Editor Patrick Mahon and the i4is Board of Directors over the next three months to appoint a successor and a broader team, sharing responsibilities for the magazine, in time for a transition period. Please get in touch with either of us if you would like to be part of the Principium team
John I Davies, Editor, john.davies@i4is.org
Patrick Mahon, Deputy Editor, patrick.mahon@i4is.org

LEAD FEATURE- Pringles is a Verb: Fabrication and Exhibition of “the Big Object” at WorldCon 82 in Glasgow

FEATURES

Glasgow 24 SF WorldCon: What we did at the Con

i4is’ Science Fiction Anthology and Book Club

Project Hyperion

Rise of the Serpent-God: The Apocalypse Plot

NEWS FEATURES

International Astronautical Congress IAC24: The Interstellar Presentations Part 1

Report from the Space Propulsion Conference 2024 Glasgow, 20-23 May 2024

The Wow! Signal – explained? : A review of Arecibo Wow! I: An Astrophysical Explanation for the Wow! Signal

First European Interstellar Symposium: The Abstracts

The Journals

 

INTERSTELLAR NEWS

 

REGULARS

Latest i4is poster: as featured in Astronomy Now magazine

Working with i4is – Volunteer Poster: Working towards the real Final Frontier

Membership poster – black

Membership poster – white

Become an i4is member

The i4is members’ page

Next Issue

Cover Images

 

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Issue 45 | May 2024

Principium 45

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Principium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

Contents – click link to access each article individually-

LEAD FEATURE: book review, Les Johnson’s A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars.

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/BOOK-REVIEW-A-Travelers-Guide-to-the-Stars-Principium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

Book Review: Contact with Extraterrestrial Intelligence and Human Law

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Book-Review-Contact-with-ExtraterrestrialPrincipium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

 

NEWS FEATURES:

Glasgow 24 SF Worldcon An i4is update

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Glasgow-24-SF-Worldcon-Principium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

Royal Institution April 2024 – Our fifth Skateboards to Starships workshop

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Royal-Institution-April-2024-Principium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

Biological intelligence vs AI – and the Fermi Paradox

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/Biological-intelligence-vs-AI-and-the-Principium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

The Journals

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/The-Journals-Principium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

– and 12 pages of INTERSTELLAR NEWS

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/interstellar-news-Principium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

Next Issue

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/next-issue-Principium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

 

Members Page

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/the-i4is-members-page-Principium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

 

Become an i4is member

https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2024/05/become-an-i4is-member-Principium45-2405171117-comp.pdf

 

 

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Issue 44 | February 2024

LEAD FEATURE Hazards of Interstellar Propulsion

NEWS FEATURES The First European Interstellar Symposium, IRG 23: ‘Metropolis’ Revisited… and Coming, NASA NIAC funds swarming study, The 2024 World Science Fiction Convention – Glasgow, IRG23: The Ultimate Rocket the Ultimate Energy Source and their Use in the Ultimate Future, Define Artificial General Intelligence!, SETI Institute announces Breakthrough Listen funding, IAC 2023: The Interstellar Presentations. Part 2, The Journals
– and 5 pages of –
INTERSTELLAR NEWS Principium will have a News Editor, Sail Trajectories to Proxima b, We’re all doomed!, On the first probe between two interstellar civilisations, Photovoltaic Onboard Power for Interstellar, Selection of News from our Members’ Newsletter, Plenty of room at the bottom, Matter/Anti-Matter Propulsion

REGULARS: Become an i4is member, the i4is members’ page, Next Issue, Cover Images

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Issue 42 | August 2023

LEAD FEATURES
Two IRG23 REPORTS – https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IRG23-reports-Principium42-2308271041opt.pdf
IRG23 – The First Two Days
On Lasers and Lagrange Points- 8th Interstellar Symposium

NEWS FEATURES
Interstellar flyby scientific data downlink design – https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/Interstellar-flyby-scientific-data-downlink-design-Principium42-2308271041opt.pdf
Project Icarus revisited – 30 September – https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/News-Feature-Project-Icarus-revisited-30-September-Principium42-2308271041opt.pdf
IAC 2023 – The Interstellar Presentations – https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/IAC-2023-The-Interstellar-Presentations-Principium42-2308271041opt.pdf
The Journals – https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/The-Journals-Principium42-2308271041opt.pdf

INTERSTELLAR NEWS – https://i4is.org/wp-content/uploads/2023/08/interstellar-news-Principium42-2308281223opt.pdf

REGULARS
Become an i4is member  The i4is members’ page  Membership poster-black  Membership poster-white  Next issue  Cover images

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Issue 38 | August 2022

Principium 38- ISSN2397-9127

LEAD FEATURE Book Review: LIFE IN THE COSMOS, Andreas Hein
FEATURES: Two Equations to the Stars– Part Two: The Photon Sail Equation–John I Davies
NEWS FEATURES: IAC2022, The Journals
19 pages of INTERSTELLAR  NEWS
REGULARS: Become an i4is member, The i4ismembers’ page, Membership and Volunteer posters,  Next issue & Cover images

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Issue 37 | May 2022

LEAD FEATURE Book Review: The Alien Communication Handbook, Patrick Mahon
FEATURES: Two Equations to the Stars – Part One – John I Davies, Finding new ways to share resources in space – Max Daniels
NEWS FEATURES: The Second Interstellar Studies Summer Course, IAC 2022, Special on space debris at IAC21 – Samar AbdelFattah, The Journals
INTERSTELLAR NEWS: IAC 2022, Inflatable infrared telescope to detect water, Engineering the Oberth Manoeuvre, A Starshade to help earth-based telescopes find exoplanets, i4is in US National Academies Decadal Survey, Don’t Forget To Look Up, Philosophy and Science of Space Exploration, Avoiding the Great Filter, Researching ‘Oumuamua as an Alien Craft, More from Centauri Dreams on Laser Sails and Ramping Up the Technosignature Search, Riding a laser to Mars in 45 days, The case for space environmentalism, Studying an ISO using the Webb telescope, SETI in 2021, Non-terrestrial artefacts in the Solar System, Probability of communicating ETIs
REGULARS: Membership Poster (white), Become an i4is member, Volunteer Poster: Working towards the real Final Frontier, The i4is members’ page, Next issue & Cover images

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Issue 36 | February 2022

LEAD FEATURE The Icarus Firefly Downlink
FEATURES: Project Lyra: A Mission to 1I/’Oumuamua without Solar Oberth Manoeuvre, Design of Interplanetary Missions to Jupiter Using Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software
NEWS FEATURES: JBIS Index 2021, 72nd International Astronautical Congress 2021: The Interstellar Papers, A brief on IAC2021: Inspire, Innovate and Discover For the Benefit of Humankind, 7th Interstellar Symposium – The Hallway is More Important than the Podium…, The Journals
INTERSTELLAR NEWS: A real, albeit humble, warp bubble (continued)? ; Announcement from IRG, – See what we heard at Tucson; Free-floating planets in the Upper Scorpius, Capture of interstellar objects; Solid core thermal antimatter propulsion;, Feasibility of space solar power, Hyper-Fast Positive Energy Warp Drives; IEEE reports – A Pinch of Fusion, 100 GW beamer by coherent combination of 100 M lasers, JWST – so far so good; Interstellar communication from hypothetical alien, probes, UCSB on Economics of Interstellar Flight; Beyond Solar System – beware, Dark Matter, Trappist 1 – Gravitational Lens in 8 Years, Tailpiece: Wacky Scientists hire, wacky vicars – or not?
REGULARS: Keep An Eye On Our Facebook Page, Membership Poster (white), Become an i4is member, Volunteer Poster: Working towards the real Final Frontier, The i4is members’ page, Membership Poster (black), Next issue, Cover images.

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Issue 30 | August 2020

This issue features –

  • Worldship Implications of the BIS SPACE Project
  • 2020 ISU MSS Elective Module
  • i4is-supported ISU MSS Projects – Bussard Ramjet & Deceleration of Interstellar Probes
  • 71st IAC 2020 Timetable of Interstellar Papers
  • Cassidy Cobbs – Bioscientist – Part 2
  • Interstellar News
  • The Cathedral and the Starship
  • FISW2 videos and presentations
  • Educating i4is: the i4is Education Team
  • Alfred M Worden – A personal reflection

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Issue 29 | May 2020

This issue features –

  • Cassidy Cobbs – Bioscientist
  • Interstellar News
  • The Interstellar Ram Jet at 60
  • IAC2019 the Interstellar Papers #3
  • FAST radio telescope & Breakthrough Listen
  • Rings round exoplanets – possible megastructures
  • Mariner model part 2: The initial construction phase
  • i4is Members Page
  • Freeman Dyson (1923-2020)
  • Feasibility of self-replicating probes for interstellar exploration
  • Book Review: Religions and Extraterrestrial Life

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Issue 28 | February 2020

This issue features –

  • IAC 2019 – Second Report
  • Book Review: The Contact Paradox
  • TVIW’s 6th Interstellar Symposium
  • What do we really know about the Outer Solar System?
  • The Equation used in the Benkoski Paper – A Derivation
  • Interstellar Objects – Oumuamua, Borisov & objects in between
  • i4is Members Page & Become an i4is member
  • Interstellar News

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Issue 27 | November 2019

This issue features –

  • On a possible future direction for optical SETI
  • IAC Oct 2019 — First Report
  • How to reach Interstellar Visitors — Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software
  • How low can you go? — The Benkowski equation
  • i4is Members Page & Become an i4is member
  • Interstellar News

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Issue 26 | August 2019

cover Principium26

This issue features –

  • Foundations of Interstellar Studies Workshop 2019
  • The State of the Art in Fusion Propulsion – part 2
  • A Mariner 2 model
  • Interstellar News
  • News Features:
    • The Principium Team
    • Starship Congress 2019
    • ESA Interstellar Workshop
    • Apollo Poetry Competition result
    • IAC Oct 2019 – i4is team and interstellar timetable
    • ISU ChipSat Spacecraft and Mission Design elective
  • i4is Members Page & Become an i4is member

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Issue 25 | May 2019

This issue, Our third MEMBERSHIP Edition, features –

  • The State of the Art in Fusion Propulsion
  • Overview: TVIW 2018 Symposium
  • Second Foundations of Interstellar Studies workshop
  • Extreme Deep Space Exploration
  • Competition: From Apollo to the stars!
  • Progress & activity by i4is-US 2017-2019
  • Fine Tuning Lasers: Project Dragonfly and Glowworm
  • i4is Members Page and Become an i4is member
  • Interstellar News
  • News Features:
    • Oumuamua, Project Lyra and ISOs
    • Indian Anti-Satellite test
    • All Comets Great and Small
    • IAC 2018 – Swarm Systems
    • i4is-US at annual MIT Beyond the Cradle event
    • The Membership Team

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Issue 24 | February 2019

This issue, Our second MEMBERSHIP Edition, features –

  • Project Glowworm: Testing Laser Sail Propulsion in Low Earth Orbit
  • Amerigo: Brief Overview of a 1000 AU probe study
  • TVIW Power of Synergy Symposium
  • Project Daedalus – A Beginners’ Guide
  • Interstellar News
  • News Features –
    • Oumuamua, Project Lyra and Interstellar Objects
    • 69th International Astronautical Congress 2018
    • TVIW 2018

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Issue 23 | November 2018

This issue, The MEMBERSHIP Edition, features –

  • Implications of the Gaia Mission for Future Interstellar Travel
  • News Feature – What is Oumuamua?
  • Book Review: The Planet Factory – Elizabeth Tasker
  • Engineering New Worlds: Goals, Motives and Results
  • Interstellar News
  • News Features:
    • 69th International Astronautical Congress 2018 – The Interstellar Papers
    • Starship Engineering – First Five Day i4is Summer School
    • Holographic Photon Sails – A Merger of Science and Art
    • The Andromeda Probe Model
    • TVIW 2018

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Issue 22 | August 2018

This issue features –

  • To the Stars in a Century: Z-Pinch fusion & Firefly Icarus
  • IAC 2018 Bremen – interstellar & i4is
  • Breakthrough Propulsion Physics
  • Book Review: Exoplanètes
  • Interstellar News
  • News Features
    • Moon, Mars & beyond – an RI debate
    • Catching A Little Bit of Heaven
    • i4is HQ Symposium & Lecture
    • Wormholes & Time Machines
    • How far have we come?

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Issue 21 | May 2018

Read more

This issue features –

  • “Slow down!”: How to park an interstellar rocket
  • The Orbits of Seveneves (2) – the orbits explained
  • Imagining Interstellar – Art by Efflam Mercier
  • 69th International Astronautical Congress 2018 – Papers by the i4is Team
  • BOOK REVIEWS:
    • Going Interstellar – Build Starships Now!
    • Rendezvous with Rama, a retrospective
  • NEWS FEATURES –
    • Breakthrough Discuss 2018: i4is debate novel propulsion technologies
    • PROCSIMA – Diffractionless Beamed Propulsion for Breakthrough Interstellar Missions
    • BIS report on nanosats from the UK
  • Interstellar News & Project Lyra Update

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Issue 20 | February 2018

This issue features –

  • Project Lyra : mission to ʻOumuamua
  • Preparing for the next Interstellar Object
  • Interstellar News
  • The Orbits of Seveneves
  • Tsiolkovsky – Interstellar Pioneer
  • NEWS FEATURES
    • Work on the interstellar asteroid and i4is Project Lyra
    • Pete Worden, Breakthrough Initiatives, at i4is HQ
  • Sir Arthur C Clarke Centenary
  • Models and art at the Mill

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Issue 19 | November 2017

This issue features –

  • ‘The Interstellar Space’ Opening of i4is HQ, 8 October 2017
  • News Feature – Glowworm Update
  • TV Programme Review – The Search for a New Earth – With Professor Stephen Hawking, BBC2, first screened 11 Sep 2017, UK
  • Interstellar Inspiration for School Students: The i4is Interstellar Challenge. How To to get started on your own Interstellar Challenge.
  • Transplutonium is not “Planet X” : Reminiscing and reality-based ruminations on the high cost of nucleosynthesis of propellants for interstellar travel.
  • Engineering New Worlds: Creating the Future – Parts 4 and 5
  • Art for Interstellar : Bringing art, technology and science together in New York

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Issue 18 | August 2017

This issue features –

  • Aridopolis : A Sustainable Earth / Mars Desert Settlement
  • Interstellar News
  • Engineering New Worlds: Creating the Future – Part 3
  • Foundations of Interstellar Studies Workshop
  • Statement of Solidarity for The Interstellar Vision
  • Opening of the i4is HQ

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Issue 17 | May 2017

This issue features –

  • Advanced Ion Propulsion Systems for Interstellar Precursor Probes
  • Interstellar News
  • News Feature: TRAPPIST-1
  • Is the Alcubierre Drive the answer to Interstellar Travel?
  • Album Review: Infinity of Space
  • Book Review: Starlight, Starbright: Are Stars Conscious?
  • Engineering New Worlds: Creating the Future
  • Poster Feature: Space Resource Law

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Issue 16 | February 2017

This issue features –

  • Project Starshot
  • Interstellar News
  • Letter to the Editor : Stephen Ashworth
  • ISU Masters Degree Projects – the i4is contribution
  • Film Reviews: Arrival and Passengers
  • Book Review: Star Ark : A Living Self-sustaining Spaceship
  • Interstellar Challenge for London Schools 2016
  • Image Feature: Artificial Intelligence Probes for Interstellar Exploration and Colonization

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Issue 15 | November 2016

This issue features –

  • Guest introduction by Nick Kanas, The Psychology and Sociology of Interstellar Travel
  • News from the Initiative
  • i4is/ISU 2016: Space Environment & Spacecraft Systems Engineering
  • Daedalus: Model and Art
  • The Andromeda Study
  • Book Review: Gypsy: Carter Scholz
  • The art and imagination of David A Hardy

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Issue 14 | August 2016

This issue features –

  • Guest introduction by Paul Gilster
  • News from the initiative
  • Cosmos: A Personal Voyage
  • The BIS Daedalus Model – the last lap
  • The Starship Engineer Course 2015
  • Interstellar Studies at the ISU 2016

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Issue 13 | May 2016

This issue features –

  • Guest introduction by Kieran Twaites
  • News from the initiative
  • The 1,000 Year Starship
  • Sending Ourselves to the stars? – 2
  • Photo Feature: BIS Daedalus Starship Model
  • Project Icarus: Introduction

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Issue 12 | February 2016

This issue features –

  • Guest Introduction
  • News from the initiative
  • Sending Ourselves to the Stars
  • Starship Engineer
  • Prototyping Starships
  • Dragonfly: The Way Forward
  • Film Review: Star Wars – The Force Awakens

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Issue 11 | November 2015

This issue features –

  • Stop Press: Starship Engineer Course
  • Guest Introduction: Photometric SETI
  • News: Project Dragonfly, i4is at SDSO, Axiom, Starship Congress
  • Project Dragonfly Competition
  • Interstellar Implications of the New Horizons Probe
  • Starship Congress 2015
  • TWIW 2014: i4is SF design Workshop
  • TWIW 2014: Field Report
  • What we did at Eastercon
  • Film Review: The Martian

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Issue 10 | August 2015

This issue features –

  • News, Dragonfly, Pluto and Dysprosium
  • Wormholes Come to London (2)
  • Wormholes – Stargates to the Cosmic Neighbourhood
  • i4is Goes Stratospheric
  • Icarus Interstellar: Project Voyager
  • What we did at the WorldCon (2)
  • How do we Survive on a Distant World?
  • What’s in Principium 11

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Issue 9 | May 2015

This issue features –

  • Project Dragonfly
  • Kickstarter
  • Introduction
  • Beyond the Boundary – An i4is Book
  • Educational Academy
  • Technical Research Committee
  • i4is and ISU
  • Wormholes Come to London
  • Film & Book Review “Interstellar”
  • Merchandise
  • News from the i4is
  • What we did at the WorldCon
  • What’s in Principium 10

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Issue 8 | July 2014

This issue features –

  • Introduction by Kelvin F. Long
  • News from the Initiative
  • Advances
  • Community News
  • Son of Daedalus
  • Building Daedalus
  • Book Review

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Issue 7 | December 2013

This issue features –

  • Introduction by Sarah Margree
  • News from the initiative
  • Voyager 1 Leaves the Heliosphere
  • The New Horizons Message Initiative
  • Project Icarus Workshop
  • The Alpha Centauri Prize
  • Starship Cities
  • Enzmann Starships

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Issue 6 | August 2013

This issue features –

  • Introduction by Keith Cooper
  • A Year I the Life of i4is
  • Why an initiative now?
  • The i4is Academy
  • Gravity and the Apple
  • The Origins of Future Worlds
  • The Philosophy of the Starship
  • Project Dragonfly

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Issue 5 | July 2013

This issue features –

  • Introduction by Keith Cooper
  • News from the initiative
  • Community
  • Advances
  • The Art of Music
  • Jon Lomberg’s Starship Adventures
  • Retrospective: SETI

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Issue 4 | April 2013

This issue features –

  • Introduction by Adrian Mann
  • News from the initiative
  • Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop
  • Advances – DE-STAR
  • The Starship Art of Jon Lomberg
  • Book Review

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Issue 3 | February 2013

This issue features –

  • Introduction by Gregory Matloff
  • Advances – Asteroid Propecting
  • Advances – Skylon
  • ‘Listening Post’
  • A Learning Experience
  • Retrospective: Bussard Ramjet
  • Reviews

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Issue 2 | January 2013

This issue features –

  • Letter from Rob Swinney
  • News from the initiative
  • ‘Advances’
  • Meet the Neighbours
  • Retrospective: Voyager
  • Reviews

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Issue 1 | December 2012

This issue features –

  • Letter from the Director
  • News from the initiative
  • ‘Advances’
  • CubeSats
  • Retrospective: Daedalus
  • Book Reviews

Download Issue 1 View Announcement