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!
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 […]
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 […]
i4is World Ships featured in Medium OneZero
We are proud to announce that our research on world ships has now been featured in an article on OneZero, “Scientists Are Contemplating a 1,000-Year Space Mission to Save Humanity” by Corin Faife. The article generated a stream of other features such as on Futurism. From the article: There’s no principal obstacle from a physics […]
Project Lyra featured in Wired
Our new Project Lyra research was featured in Wired magazine. Project Lyra assesses the feasibility of missions to interstellar objects such as ‘Oumuamua and Borisov.
David A. Hardy – AI interstellar probe paintings
We are proud to have legendary space artist David A. Hardy among our ranks. He created two wonderful paintings of AI interstellar probes, inspired by the paper by Andreas Hein & Stephen Baxter published in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society. The probe’s characteristic features are large solar panels at the front for generating […]
i4is World Ship journal article published
We are proud to announce that our article on world ships, huge, self-contained generation ships, has now been published in Acta Futura, the journal of the Advanced Concepts Team of the European Space Agency. The article provides a concise overview of the state of research on world ships and generation ships and touches on the […]
Results of our poetry competition: the inspiration of space exploration – from Apollo to the stars!
In issue 25 of Principium, published in May, we challenged i4is members and supporters, and space fans more generally, to mark the 50th anniversary of the first manned Moon landing on 20 July 1969 by writing a poem to show how interstellar exploration can inspire us just as much today as the epic achievement of Neil Armstrong, Buzz Aldrin and Michael Collins did half a century ago, during the Apollo 11 mission.
2nd Foundation of Interstellar Studies Workshop
The Initiative for Interstellar Studies and the British Interplanetary Society are pleased to announce the 2nd Foundation of Interstellar Studies Workshop, which will take place from 27th to 30th of June, at the current headquarters of the i4is, The Bone Mill, on the edge of the wonderful English Cotswolds, in south Gloucestershire, UK. Interstellar Travel is […]
Space Enthusiasts Invited to Join i4is for a Journey to the Stars!
The Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is) has today (7 December) taken another exciting step on its mission to promote robotic and human exploration and colonisation beyond the solar system, by launching a membership scheme intended to build an active community of space enthusiasts whose sights are set firmly on the stars.