Principium editor John Davies offers a personal view of the continuing mystery of the interstellar object Oumuamua. More than one year since its discovery we still do not know what this object is. Here John summarises analysis so far and suggests that a mission to Oumuamua may be our only way of solving the mystery.
Blog
Implications of the Gaia Mission for Future Interstellar Travel
In this article, Dr Phil Sutton, Lecturer in Astrophysics, University of Lincoln, UK, discusses how the Gaia astrometry mission creates our first full “map of the neighbourhood”. This data has immediate supporting value for all astronomical investigation but also has both cosmological and astronautical significance as we begin to contemplate missions to the near stars. […]
Principium 23
Issue 23 of Principium, the quarterly publication of the Initiative and Institute for Interstellar Studies is now published.
Artificial Intelligence for Interstellar Travel, featuring Stephen Baxter
Artificial intelligence probe design (Image: Adrian Mann) AI has frequently been proposed as a key enabler for interstellar exploration and colonization. However, no comprehensive study of the various AI-enabled concepts for interstellar probes has been conducted to date. This has now changed with a brand-new article by renowned science fiction writer Stephen Baxter and Andreas […]
Public presentation – To the Stars on a Paintbrush
Public presentation by world renowned space artist David A Hardy – To the Stars on a Paintbrush When and Where? Friday 14th December 2018 starting at 6pm in the Conference Room, Bone Mill, New Street, Charfield, South Gloucestershire, GL12 8ES David A. Hardy has been producing astronomical art since 1952, and became freelance in 1965. […]
Cassini at Saturn: The End of an Era
Public Lecture by Professor Carl Murray, Queen Mary & Westfield College, University of London Cassini at Saturn: the End of an Era When and Where? Friday 30th November 2018 starting at 6pm in the Conference Room, Bone Mill, New Street, Charfield, South Gloucestershire, GL12 8ES
Symposium on the Philosophy of Extraterrestrial Intelligence
A series of public talks by various speakers (listed below). This event is not about the technology that we may use to search for intelligent life in the Cosmos, but more a discussion on what we mean by life, intelligence, and the philosophy of our approach to finding those things external to the Earth. It […]
Public Lecture – Avoiding Intellectual Stagnation: the Starship as an Expander of Minds
Lecture by Professor Ian Crawford, Professor of Planetary Science and Astrobiology, Birkbeck, University College London.
When and Where? Friday 26th October 2018 at 6pm in the Conference Room, Bone Mill, New Street, Charfield, South Gloucestershire, GL12 8ES