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 […]
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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 […]
Skateboards to Starships
The third i4is summer workshops at the Royal Institution We were first invited to deliver a one day summer workshop for school students by the Royal Institution {RIGB, www.rigb.org) in 2018. We called it “Skateboards to Starships” to show that the basic physics, maths and engineering principles applied to both and at many scales between.We […]
The i4is Science Fiction Anthology
The time has come for the Initiative for Interstellar Studies to put together its own anthology of original short fiction on interstellar themes, with publication anticipated in 2023. We invite i4is members and those willing to join to submit their science fiction stories for consideration.
Summer Course 25-29th July 2022
Latest News: Special guest panel with Brian ‘BK’ Kelly, former Director Flight Operations NASA and ‘Ray J’ Johnson pilot of final Shuttle mission to Hubble Space Telescope.
The Limitless Space Institute commissioned the Initiative for Interstellar Studies to create a course to educate and inspire the next generation to explore and travel beyond our solar system. Following on from the inaugural class in 2021 this second class also incorporates material previously delivered to the International Space University and i4is’ own ‘Starship Engineer’ courses.