Thermodynamic limits to economic growth on Earth – Can space save us? This new paper argues that continued economic growth on Earth will hit a thermodynamic limit within the third millenium, if economic activities and energy consumption cannot be decoupled. The maximum size would be up to 7000 times the current one. An in-space economy […]
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i4is Self-Replicating Probe
i4is concept for a near-term self-replicating probe – The potential to drastically increase the efficiency of space exploration!https://arxiv.org/ftp/arxiv/papers/2005/2005.12303.pdf. Beautifully illustrated by Adrian Mann!
Newsletter: Videos from our ISU module now available
We have added a large collection of videos of the online classes from the module we recently delivered for the International Space University (ISU). We have received kind permission from the ISU to share these videos with our members.
Principium 29 now released!
Issue 29 of Principium, the quarterly publication of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies is now published. The front cover image is a Bussard Ramjet – a new piece produced for i4is by our friend and esteemed artist Alex Storer (thelightdream.net).
ISU–i4is Interstellar Module concluded!
The ISU – i4is Interstellar Module ended today with four awesome presentations on world ship topics, each one venturing into areas no human has visited before! A big thank you to Prof. Chris Welch and the amazing MSS20 students who worked very hard on this for the last two weeks! Also, thank you to the […]
Newsletter: Share a One Year Free Trial with a friend, and much more…
Welcome to the member newsletter of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies. We hope you are keeping well. In this newsletter we bring your attention to some new Principium preprints as well as a new i4is article on world ships recently published in the ESA journal, Acta Futura.
i4is delivers ISU Interstellar Module
Thanks to Prof. Chris Welch, International Space University, for the opportunity to co-deliver the Interstellar Module to ISU students this year again! We deliver two-weeks of lectures and hands-on projects on world ships! Members of the Initiative for Interstellar Studies have access to video recordings of the lectures that the i4is crew presented. The videos […]
Project World Ship
World ships are hypothetical, large, self-contained spacecraft for crewed interstellar travel, taking centuries to reach other stars. Due to their crewed nature, size, and long trip times, the feasibility of world ships faces an additional set of challenges compared to interstellar probes. Despite their emergence in the 1980s, most of these topics remain unexplored. This […]
