Recently the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (I4IS) exhibited at Starfest 3 the North Essex Astronomical Society’s third astronomical convention held in the Colchester Institute and which has continually grown since its inception. The Initiative was represented by Director Rob Swinney, Terry Regan and I4IS Executive Secretary Sarah Margree (who is also on the NEAS team), and had a display stand amongst the space artists, photographers and telescope retailers. They were not completely out of place though with Terry’s fantastic models of various real and imagined space probes, the British Interplanetary Society and Reaction Engines Ltd also represented in the hall.
Along with the exhibition there was a full day’s programme of events and presentations, including an update from Alan Bond of Reaction Engines giving the Les Sayer Memorial Lecture with an exciting update on Skylon, the single stage to orbit space plane powered by the revolutionary SABRE engine. The almost unspoken message was that such a dramatic reduction in the cost of access to Low Earth Orbit will help revolutionise astronomy observations.
Dr Carolin Crawford (Institute of Astronomy and Gresham College) presented a lecture on “The Science and Beauty of Nebulae” revealing stunning images and a greater understanding of these ever popular astronomical targets for amateur and professional astronomers alike. Many of the images were from the Hubble Space Telescope, so one can only imagine what new telescopes a Skylon spaceplane could deliver in to space to further enhance observations and understanding.
During the day Alan Bond had spent some time chatting to Director Rob Swinney at the I4IS stand, discussing space travel further in the future. Rob said:
“It’s a real privilege to chat to such a visionary who has set so many things in motion from the Daedalus study in the 1970s to Skylon today. It was exciting to hear how tantalisingly close SABRE and Skylon are to fruition and how they will impact the activities of the Institute. Indeed, Alan and his work are undoubtedly one of the great inspirations behind the Initiative.”