Great to see that our research has been featured in the well-known BBC Sky at Night Magazine: “Spacecraft powered by light sails and lasers offer a quicker way to explore the Solar System. But there’s a catch.” Check it out here! Congrats to Manasvi Lingam, Adam Hibberd, and Andreas Hein! (Image credit: BBC)
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Astronomy Magazine Cover Feature: Project Lyra
Project Lyra is the cover feature of the bestselling astronomy magazine in the world! Check out the 10-page article of the June 2024 issue of Astronomy with a lot of great artwork based on the work by the Project Lyra team and beautifully executed by Maciej Rebisz. Get a digital copy here or a physical […]
Swarming Proxima: i4is wins NASA NIAC Grant
In collaboration with Space Initiatives Inc., we have succeeded in securing a prestigious NIAC grant. “Thomas Eubanks, Space Initiatives Inc. in Florida, believes a swarm of tiny spacecraft could travel to Proxima Centauri this century, sending back data about the Sun’s nearest interstellar neighbor using a novel laser sailcraft and laser communications.” More information here.
PROJECT HYPERION: THE HOLLOW ASTEROID STARSHIP – DISSEMINATION OF AN IDEA
Andreas M. Hein Asteroid starship arriving at an alien world by David A. Hardy Source: https://www.comicartfans.com/gallerypiece.asp?piece=1618045 A large space mirror heats up an asteroid, slowly melting it. Water, which was injected into the center of the body expands, blows up the melted material, creating the shape of a balloon. After cooling down, rotation is induced […]
Avi Loeb takes on Project Lyra, we reply
Avi Loeb, whose name is firmly associated with the alien artifact speculation regarding ‘Oumuamua has posted a blog article on Project Lyra. This is not the first time he reacts to Project Lyra and we see this as another opportunity to put forward our point of view. We agree that the only way to settle […]
‘Oumuamua a hydrogen-water iceberg? i4is illustrates
‘Oumuamua, the interstellar object discovered in 2017 is hypothesized to be a hydrogen iceberg: Bergner, J. B., & Seligman, D. Z. (2023). Acceleration of 1I/‘Oumuamua from radiolytically produced H2 in H2O ice. Nature, 615(7953), 610-613. Although this has been a much discussed hypothesis, the dominant image of ‘Oumuamua used in the media is still the […]
BBC/Bilibili Series i4is Contribution: Rendezvous with the Future
Rendezvous with the Future (未来漫游指南) (BBC/Bilibili) is a major streaming TV series on the future of humanity, which has been released in China and has so far been watched by over 55 million people. It is narrated by the internationally famed Chinese SF author Liu Cixin. Our Executive Director Dr. Andreas Hein acted as an […]
Principium 39
Principium, the quarterly publication of the Initiative and Institute for Interstellar Studies, Number 39.
Why the Stars?
Adam Hibberd November 2022 People may ask the question why we should venture beyond our solar system to explore the stars? Why should we commit precious resources to such an endeavour? I have an answer to this which may to some degree be a personal one. The question boils down to why are we curious? […]
Exploring ‘Oumuamua’s Trajectory – Further Notes
Adam Hibberd November 2022 In my last blog I reported the progress of my work regarding the intriguing little conundrum of the first interstellar object (ISO) to be discovered, designated ‘Oumuamua, in particular my research into its orbit. In fact ‘Oumuamua is puzzling on many counts and I have also in a previous blog elaborated […]
Exploring ‘Oumuamua’s Perihelion Date
Adam Hibberd October 2022 This blog may be a bit cheeky but do take heed of the last line before jumping to any conclusions! I’ve been mucking around with ‘Oumuamua’s orbit on my computer lately. Mucking around in the sense of playing with its orbital parameters and seeing what crops up. Those of you who […]
Sailing to Apophis
Adam Hibberd September 2022 Of the existential threats posed by celestial objects to our Earth, the cradle of humanity and currently our only life-support, there are myriad such candidates. In fact we are in a veritable astronomical mine-field, the key question is not if but when. Take comets for instance. These objects composed primarily of […]
