First Announcement, Workshop on the Foundations of Interstellar Studies, 13-15 June 2017, New York, USA
Dear Friends,
We are very pleased to invite you to a unique workshop on the Foundations of Interstellar Studies. This is to take place 13-15 June 2017 at City Tech, the City University of New York.
It is a meeting on interstellar flight, a collaboration between the Institute for Interstellar Studies and the Physics Department and the Center for Theoretical Physics at New York City College of Technology. We are particularly looking for submissions by authors which attempt to solve existing problems or at least describe a pathway towards those solutions. Our rule is 'no solution, no presentation'. Proceedings for the event will be organised for submission to the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society.
The technical sessions will be held over three days and will discuss the following:
- Day 1 Energetic Reaction Engines: Any engines which involve the ejection of matter or energy rearwards from the vehicle for thrust generation. E.g. electric, plasma, nuclear thermal, fission, fission-fragment, fusion, antimatter catalyzed fusion, antimatter.
- Credible fusion ignition physics models for high gain.
- Practical methods for Achieving Antimatter Catalyzed Fusion.
- Mitigation and shielding methods for large radiation fluxes from energetic engines.
- The design of large magnetic fields for use in space transportation.
- Efficient acquisition and mining methods for large quantities of fuels
- Day 2 Sails & Beams: Any concept which involves the transfer of momentum via photons or particle beams, e.g. solar sails, laser sails, microwave sails, particle beamers, stellar wind pushers.
- Achieving a stable structure and light-sail geometry for beam riding.
- Mitigating the effects of interstellar dust and ionization.
- Dissipation of heat build-up on sail from a laser beam or high velocity close solar flyby.
- The design of low mass, thin, materials for (high g) sail concepts.
- Systems Architectures, fabrication and Construction Methods for ground and Space Based Beaming methods.
- Day 3 Breakthrough Propulsion: Any breakthrough propulsion concepts, an area of technology development that seeks to explore and develop a deeper understanding of the nature of space-time, gravitation, inertial frames, quantum vacuum, and other fundamental physical phenomena with the overall objective of developing advanced propulsion applications and systems that will revolutionize space exploration.
- Proposed methods for mining energy from the Quantum Vacuum.
- The generation and control of large negative energy densities, derivation of space-time metrics to reduce negative energy requirements, and/or higher dimensional physics models.
- Emergent gravity/emergent quantum mechanics models, pilot wave theory, or other new approaches to reconciling Quantum Mechanics and General Relativity which leads to new space-time transport solutions.
- Space drive concepts that generate force by interactions with the vacuum/space-time.
- Experimental approaches/findings related to the exploration of breakthrough propulsion concepts.
In addition, a social dinner event will be organised for the evening of Monday 12 June and all participants are invited to attend. Further details about the workshop, including registration and submission, can be found at the website address: http://www.citytech.cuny.edu/physicsworkshop/
For any inquiries please contact the workshop secretary Elena Ancona: elena.ancona@gmail.com
We look forward to meeting you in New York in June.
Yours Sincerely,
Kelvin F. Long, Co-Chairman BEng Msc FBIS CPhys, Executive Director Initiative for Interstellar Studies (UK), Chairman Institute for Interstellar Studies (USA)
Roman Kezerashvili Ph.D D.Sc Professor of Physics, Chairman Physics Department, Director of the Center for Theoretical Physics at City Tech, The City University of New York
