Adam Hibberd I have recently read a review of a book titled “Astrotopia: the Dangerous Religion of the Corporate Space Race” written by a professor Mary-Jane Rubenstein and it is reviewed by Patrick Mahon, who is on the Board of Directors for i4is. The review can be found here. You might be interested in that […]
Starship Blog
With the recent creation of the new i4is website, along with the newer blogs, we have included a selection of previous Starship Blog posts from our archive which we hope you will enjoy browsing. If you would like to write an article and have it appear on our web site, then get in touch with us.
2024 YR4: A Continuing Menace
Adam Hibberd Now the threat posed by Potentially Hazardous Asteroid (PHA) 2027 YR4 to Earth in December 2032 has been effectively ruled out altogether, an apathy concerning this object has descended on so many and this is, of itself, quite alarming. Let me explain to you TWO reasons now why such complacency is entirely misplaced. […]
2024 YR4 Battle Plan
Adam Hibberd The asteroid 2024 YR4 will approach pretty close to Earth on 2032 December 22nd and we can’t yet preclude a Tunguska-scale impact. Unlike Tunugska however, there would be quite a high likelihood of human fatalities, since its impact location could coincide with quite densely populated areas including India, for example, certainly a disaster […]
The Impact Energy of 2024 YR4, a Mission of Gravity
Adam Hibberd Recently I’ve been pondering a problem of gravity. Specifically, the gravity of a particular celestial object which has come to the world’s attention, making headline news in certain papers, I am of course talking about the potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) designated 2024 YR4. This object has an orbit which could – potentially – […]
2024 YR4 and Sample Return Missions
Adam Hibberd Today it was back to potentially hazardous asteroid (PHA) 2024 YR4 which was discovered quite recently and has a comparatively high chance (depending on the source ~ 1.3%, with some sources quoting higher probabilities) of colliding with Earth in 2032. Furthermore this collision has the potential of causing many human deaths, though I […]
Tunguska and the Case of Asteroid 2024 YR4
Adam Hibberd The Tunguska event holds a special place in humanity’s collective memory as an incident which could have been so much more devastating had it not occurred in the heavily forested area of Siberia and instead in a more densely populated area . Yes trees were flattened yet it seems for this event at […]
Solar Sailing as a Precursor to Proxima Centauri
Adam Hibberd I think most of you know me by now as the guy who developed the tool called ‘Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software’ (OITS) which ultimately solved the problem of how we might send a spacecraft to catch up with rapidly receding interstellar object and scientific enigma ‘Oumuamua. I decided to work on OITS – […]
A Precursor Mission to Proxima Centauri
A Mission to Five Near Earth Objects in 2030 Adam Hibberd We at i4is, together with our collaborators on the Phase I NIAC (NASA Innovative Advanced Concepts) at Space Initiatives Inc., have been contemplating precursors to the ultimate mission of sending laser sails to swarm our nearest neighbouring star, Proxima Centauri. A summary of the […]
Deflecting Apophis
Adam Hibberd There have been some developments. I have been addressing the problem of how to deflect Apophis from its path if it were indeed on a collision course with Earth. My Apocalypse Plot gives the magnitude of ΔV at different points in Apophis’s orbit to send it on a course to JUST strike the […]
Apophis: More Monolythical Mathematical Musings.
Adam Hibberd Apophis gets awfully close on Friday April 13th 2029 (within GEO altitude). Its orbit is altered by the encounter with Earth and the obvious question is will there be any further possible encounters? Some of you may remember I have worked on the practicalities of sending laser-accelerated sails to intercept Apophis as it […]
Errors in Velocity Due to an Interstellar Probe’s Fast Encounter with a Star
Adam Hibberd A spacecraft is travelling on a very hyperbolic orbit w.r.t. an object X (possibly a star) which has gravitational mass, μ, meaning the spacecraft is only slightly deflected from its direction of motion. Our task is to quantify the errors in velocity, both longitudinal and transverse, associated with this encounter compared to simply […]
‘Oumuamua: Lasers in Space
Adam Hibberd In my latest research, I have been considering the case of using laser structures in space to accelerate space laser sails to sufficient speed so that they will ultimately reach the first discovered interstellar object, 1I/’Oumuamua, within a matter of years from launch, or even as soon as a year. This is clearly […]