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You are here: Home / What we do / Technical / Project Dragonfly

Project Dragonfly

Principal Investigators: Andreas Hein and Kelvin F. Long

The committee's main technical project is Project Dragonfly, an initiative to design a laser-sail propelled vehicle. Project Dragonfly is a feasibility study for an interstellar mission, conducted by small, distributed spacecraft, propelled primarily by laser sails.

Introduction

Project Dragonfly is a feasibility study for an interstellar mission, conducted by small, distributed spacecraft, propelled primarily by laser sails. The spacecraft shall be capable of reaching the target star system within a century and be able to decelerate. We believe that such a mission can be conducted with technology available by 2024-2034 as well as a space infrastructure, available by 2050.

The competition's main objective was to identify innovative mission architectures that are feasible in terms of required technologies as well as required resources. The final design reports of the teams would cover all areas, which are relevant for returning scientific data from such a mission: instruments, communication, laser sail design, power supply, secondary structure, deceleration propulsion etc. Furthermore, the technological, as well as economic, feasibility of the architecture would be assessed by the teams.

The results from the competition serve as a basis for future technology development for actually realising such a mission.

The competition was conducted in the context of the Alpha Centauri Prize awards. The winning team would be the first to receive a newly-developed design award. A total prize purse of £1,000 was set up. The competition was successfully completed in July 2015 to inform the first phase of the design studies.

Eligibility

Participation in the competition was limited to teams affiliated to a university and must predominantly consist of students and/or researchers. Non-university members could participate if affiliated with a university team.

Participating teams were to have expertise in one or several of the following areas:

  • Space mission analysis and design
  • Structural mechanics
  • Laser physics
  • Embedded systems
  • Networked systems
  • Communication engineering

Design requirements

Detailed design requirements were submitted to the teams which successfully completed the qualification problem set. See "Application".

Design evaluation

The designs were evaluated on the basis of the following criteria:

  • Technical soundness:
    • Are the physics and engineering right?
  • Technological feasibility:
    • Is it likely that the technology is available in the next 10-20 years?
  • Economic feasibility:
    • Are the resources needed for the mission reasonable?
    • Does the design exploit synergies with future space infrastructure?
    • Is there a reasonable chance that the mission can be conducted by 2050?
  • Innovation:
    • Are there approaches to drastically increase the scientific return of such a mission without compromising feasibility?

The designs were evaluated by an expert jury.

Duration

The competition was run until July 2015. Some of the images from the design reports are shown below. A gorgeous piece of artwork was also commissioned from the world-renowned space artist David A Hardy and depicts a laser sail system travelling through space.

laser sail system travelling through space
A laser sail system travelling through space. (Image: David A Hardy)

Qualified Teams

  • Cairo University, Egypt
  • University of California Santa Barbara, USA
  • Technical University of Munich, Germany - announced as the 1st place winner of the competition
  • CranSEDS (Cranfield University-UK, Skoltech-Russia, UPS-France)


Organising Team

Andreas HeinAndreas Hein

Andreas Hein received his master's degree in aerospace engineering at the Technische Universitaet Muenchen and is currently working towards a PhD degree at the same university in the area of space systems engineering. He did part of his research at MIT. During his Master's, he spent a semester abroad at the Institut Superieur de l'Aeronautique et de l'Espace in Toulouse as well as at the European Space Agency's Strategy and Architecture Office, working on future lunar infrastructures. He is a recipient of a doctoral scholarship of the German Academic Exchange Service DAAD, a student member of the International Honor Society for Systems Engineering ­ Omega Alpha Association, and a Fellow of the British Interplanetary Society.


Dan Fries

Dan Fries 

Funded by the Fulbright scholarship, Dan received his M.Sc. in Aerospace Engineering in 2013 from the Georgia Institute of Technology and is currently working towards his German diploma at the European Space Agency. His specialisation is in advanced airbreathing and space propulsion systems as well as atmospheric reentry. Due to his personal interest, he also has experience with systems engineering and group management. In 2013/2014 he successfully led a team at the University of Stuttgart in the International Mars Inspiration Engineering Design Contest.


Martin Langer

Martin Langer

Martin is received his master's degree in aerospace engineering at the Technical University of Munich and is currently a PhD student at the Institute of Astronautics at the same university. His area of expertise is small satellites.


Advisory Team

We have assembled a world-class advisory team with renowned experts in each of the relevant domains such as Les Johnson (NASA), Prof. Gergory Matloff, Prof. Bernd Dachwald, and others. Competition teams will have the unique opportunity to get advise and feedback from these experts.

Kickstarter Backers

To help fund the prize purse, i4is ran a successful Kickstarter campaign which raised over $10,000. This money was also used to facilitate members of each of the university affiliated teams to attend a workshop in London in July 2015. We hereby list our Kickstarter supporters and thank them for their kind generosity and their outstanding commitments towards the vision of starships in our lifetime.

Cadets

Bruno Boutot, Olivier Depin, Bogdan Drema, Steve, Abby & Sophie Fisher, Ahmed Jaber

Lieutenants

Laura A Burns, David A Hardy

Squadron Leaders

Dr Steve Battle, C Earnshaw, Sam Harrison, Andrew Lyktey, Florian Marmuse, Dr Richard Obousy, Mark Swinney, Remco Timmermans, Jaime Unson, Alexander Wright

Captains

Connor Barber, René de Rooij, James Dellow, Alain Gaeremynck, Terry Henley, Wojciech Jacyk, Ulli Langer, Dorcas Phillips, Luke Rasborsek, Austin Tate

Commanders

Randy Chung, Julian Clark, R J A Duthie, Adrian Field, David E Fields, Robert Freeland, David Gullen, T R Jacobs, Mike Mongo, Sue Morris, Keith Rowley, Sophia Sigl, Paul Smeddle

Vice-admirals

Travis Brashears, Dominik Mayer, James L Rohrich, L P Shoulder (Daedalus), The Starflyer, Robert Swinney, Nick Williams, Julian Zawistowski

Engineers

Andrew Higgins, Rochelle, Vijaya Sankar, Andreas Tziolas, Chris Welch, Brent D Ziarnick

Technocrats

John I Davies, Mr Hector Geoffrey Dokopoulos Hamilton

Interstellar Librarian

Joerg Fricke

Fleet Admirals

Richard Dallaway, Angelo Genovese, Kelvin F Long

Stellar Merchants

Claudio Bottacchini, Mike Brashears, Robert G Kennedy III, PE, Abigail Ochello, Graham Symmonds

Hegemons

GEO Space Limted, Stefan Zeidler

THANK YOU TO YOU ALL FROM I4IS & THE PROJECT DRAGONFLY TEAMS

Project Dragonfly participants
All images: Adrian Mann, David A. Hardy

Publications (Peer-reviewed journal articles)

Perakis, N., Schrenk, L. E., Gutsmiedl, J., Koop, A., & Losekamm, M. J. (2016). Project Dragonfly: A feasibility study of interstellar travel using laser-powered light sail propulsion. Acta Astronautica, 129, 316-324.

Perakis, N., & Hein, A. M. (2016). Combining Magnetic and Electric Sails for Interstellar Deceleration. Acta Astronautica, Volume 128, November–December 2016, Pages 13–20

Blog articles

Hein, A.M., (2015). Small Interstellar Probes, Riding Laser Beams – The Project Dragonfly Design Competition Workshop. Centauri Dreams

Hein, A.M. (2014), Project Dragonfly: The case for small, laser-propelled, distributed probes. Centauri Dreams. 

Media articles

Universe Today: What Would be the Benefits of an Interstellar Probe? (25 Jan. 2019)

Universe Today: Exactly How We Would Send our First Laser-Powered Probe to Alpha Centauri (13 Dec. 2018)

Videos

Universe Today - Fraser Cain: Project Dragonfly. A Laser-Powered Probe to Alpha Centauri (6th Jan. 2019)

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Blog

Swarming Proxima

20 November 2023

Adam Hibberd Breakthrough Starshot is the Initative to send a probe at 20% light speed (0.2c) to the nearest neighbouring star Proxima Centauri. But how do we achieve such a high speed? It turns out that if we have an extremely powerful laser (and exponential advances in tech over the next decades will mean that […]

Laser and Sail in Earth Orbit with Evolutionary Neurocontrol

24 October 2023

Adam Hibberd In my last post I explained how my software development, Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software (OITS), seems to achieve miracles of intelligent design in a fashion analogous to evolution, though in fact with both cases evidently no intelligence is involved – instead simple mechanisms combined with iteration are at work. This concept stimulated me […]

OITS Takes on Evolution

10 September 2023

Adam Hibberd The more I think about evolution through natural selection the more I see analogues to my software development Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software. (I should make it clear at this early stage in my post that OITS does NOT employ a genetic/evolutionary algorithm approach, I shall elucidate below.) You see there is NO intent […]

How Close did ‘Oumuamua Approach Each of the Inner Planets?

2 September 2023

Adam Hibberd A view of the distance of ‘Oumuamua from each of the Inner Planets as it rounded the sun, reached perihelion and then sped away again. Mars was just about as far away as it could possibly have been from ‘Oumuamua. ‘Oumuamua came very close to Earth (around 0.16 au). It came no closer […]

Was Loeb’s Bolide Interstellar?

1 September 2023

Adam Hibberd Loeb’s interstellar spherules have caused controversy and indignation amongst experts in the science community. For those of you not-in-the-know, Loeb travelled to the site of a proposed interstellar meteor (his designation: IM1) which he had identified in a catalogue of bolides held by NASA and then discovered in the ocean tiny metallic blobs he […]

‘Oumuamua – a Sci-Fi Story or Reality?

23 August 2023

Adam Hibberd Let me tell you all a story. It is the story of life and its purpose. I ask you to bear with me here as Project Lyra and ‘Oumuamua will make an appearance eventually – I promise. Many of you will be familiar with the idea that the universe might be some kind […]

‘Oumuamua: The Mystery Unfolds

20 August 2023

Adam Hibberd Those of you who have been following my Project Lyra blogs know that I have over the past year or so done some extensive analysis of ‘Oumuamua’s trajectory. You may refer to previous posts on the i4is website to get an understanding of exactly what I have been up to, or alternatively continue […]

Psyche: OITS has Something to Say

18 August 2023

Adam Hibberd Here’s a mission to asteroid Psyche for you. Initial theories favoured Psyche as a core of a failed protoplanet, containing vast reserves of metals. More recent research, however favour alternative origin theories. Whatever is the case, we are about to discover its true nature and this would be a huge step forwards for […]

Project Lyra: Ignore the outlier and miss an opportunity

31 July 2023

Adam Hibberd Wouldn’t you like an answer to the question: What is ‘Oumuamua? There have been many theories, but there is no real consensus. The only way to answer this would be to send a spacecraft to observe ‘Oumuamua in situ but the total lack of will-power to get this question answered, in my view, […]

The Case of Fireball CNEOS 2017-10-09

28 July 2023

Adam Hibberd Around the middle of last year I read an article by Siraj and Loeb in which they analysed closely a database of bolides (which are meteor fireballs) maintained by NASA-JPL CNEOS (Center for Near Earth Object Studies). In so doing they identified at least one bolide as having an interstellar origin (designated CNEOS […]

Project Lyra: The Mission to Resolve a Mystery

4 July 2023

Adam Hibberd Project Lyra is the study of the feasibility of a spacecraft mission to the first interstellar object to be discovered passing through our Solar System, designated 1I/’Oumuamua. I have now authored and co-authored a total of nine Project Lyra papers. The considerable number of science papers (many now peer-reviewed, several still to be […]

Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software: The Secrets Revealed

25 June 2023

Adam Hibberd In the UK Spring of 2017, I derived the theory for solving interplanetary trajectories, which enabled me to develop a powerful software tool for optimising hight thrust spacecraft missions, a tool which I called Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software (OITS). For those of you fascinated by mathematics, in particular mathematical formulae, the two equations […]

Laser Sails: Trajectories Using Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software

16 June 2023

It struck me a while ago that I have developed this extremely effective tool for solving interplanetary trajectories (OITS), so how would I be able to exploit it for alternative applications – applications which would be beyond its originally intended purpose, that of designing trajectories for chemically propelled spacecraft (and in the process assuming impulsive […]

Mars Ride-Share: an Opportunity Not to be Missed

14 June 2023

Adam Hibberd I was recently discussing with my colleagues across the pond, the potential for mounting a cheap mission to some alternative, yet interesting destination in the inner Solar System, by exploiting a ‘ride-share’ with a more important mission, possibly one organised by NASA or ESA. It struck me that since there have been, and […]

C/2014 UN271 the comet which will NOT collide with the Earth

4 April 2023

Adam Hibberd An Oort cloud comet is composed primarily of dust and ice and has spent most of its life in the far-flung distant reaches of our Solar System (2,000 au to 200,000 au from our Sun). It is eventually nudged inward towards our Sun by gravitational influences such as galactic tides or some passing […]

Project Lyra: Falcon Heavy Expendable

27 March 2023

Adam Hibberd Following on from my previous blog where I studied the capability of the up-coming Ariane 6 4 launcher in terms of delivering a spacecraft on a course to intercept the first interstellar object to be discovered, ‘Oumuamua, I continue this logical progression with analysis of a more powerful launcher, the Falcon Heavy. The […]

Project Lyra: Using an Ariane 6

16 March 2023

Adam Hibberd Ariane 6 is the up-and-coming successor to the old Arianespace workhorse, Ariane 5, and may secure its maiden flight later this year. There will ultimately be two strap-on booster configurations from which to choose, one with two boosters, and the more powerful version with four. I thought it might be worthwhile assessing the […]

Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software (OITS)

15 February 2023

Adam Hibberd I started development of this software, OITS, in April 2017 on a holiday near the little town of Cheadle, in the county of Staffordshire, UK. I started from the very basics, deriving the theory during the holiday and continuing shortly thereafter, and then immersed myself in the implementation of the equations I had […]

Music of ‘Oumuamua

30 January 2023

Adam Hibberd If you have a fascination for the mysterious interstellar object ‘Oumuamua and are musically inclined, please check out these two pieces by my musician friend Robin Jax based on recordings of me playing two piano compositions of mine. Whether it be Robin’s neurodivergence, or my own schizophrenia, we have both overcome our respective […]

Things to Come

22 January 2023

Adam Hibberd I sometimes wonder at the short-sightedness of people. The sort of people who scoff and scorn at the far-sighted work which most of my work colleagues and I have dedicated a good deal of our lives to pursue, largely voluntarily. They may argue: We have such and such a problem NOW, how are […]

Project Lyra: Using Jupiter Alone to get to ‘Oumuamua

9 January 2023

Adam Hibberd Here is a ‘pork chop plot’ of missions to ‘Oumuamua using a Jupiter powered gravitational assist (or a Jupiter Oberth Manoeuvre, JOM). Refer to the Figure (1). Essentially, what we have are three coordinates where firstly the horizontal axis shows the launch date, the vertical axis shows the flight duration, and for every […]

‘Oumuamua: The State of Play

30 December 2022

Adam Hibberd In 2017, an interstellar object was discovered, the first ever to be detected. It was observed by the Hawaiian observatory Pan-STARRS, subsequently studied by many telescopes before disappearing into the distance in January 2018. An estimate on the number density, N (how many per unit volume), in interstellar space was determined based on […]

Why the Stars?

24 November 2022

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

9 November 2022

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

31 October 2022

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 […]

Principium 43

28 November 2023

The November 2023 issue of Principium is now available and has already gone out to subscribers. LEAD FEATUREIRG23: The Summaries FEATURENatural Geo-engineering of the early Earth NEWS FEATURES – IRG 23X-ray and γ-ray Beam Interstellar Communication and Implications for SETI, Applications and Design Guidelines for High Power Lasers in Space Exploration, Silence is Golden: SETI […]

Members Newsletter – November

28 November 2023

I4is Science Fiction AnthologyYou will have seen from earlier Newsletters that we are still looking for short stories for the upcoming “The i4is Science Fiction Anthology.” To ensure a level playing field, submissions must be in Shunn’s Modern Manuscript format, the widespread standard for fiction submissions. https://www.shunn.net/format/story/ (Make sure you click the Modern tab.) Further […]

PROJECT HYPERION: THE HOLLOW ASTEROID STARSHIP – DISSEMINATION OF AN IDEA

1 November 2023

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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Contact i4is

Initiative for Interstellar Studies
27/29 South Lambeth Road
London, SW8 1SZ
United Kingdom

info@nulli4is.org

Starship Blog

Swarming Proxima

Laser and Sail in Earth Orbit with Evolutionary Neurocontrol

OITS Takes on Evolution

How Close did ‘Oumuamua Approach Each of the Inner Planets?

Was Loeb’s Bolide Interstellar?

‘Oumuamua – a Sci-Fi Story or Reality?

‘Oumuamua: The Mystery Unfolds

Psyche: OITS has Something to Say

Project Lyra: Ignore the outlier and miss an opportunity

The Case of Fireball CNEOS 2017-10-09

Project Lyra: The Mission to Resolve a Mystery

Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software: The Secrets Revealed

Laser Sails: Trajectories Using Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software

Mars Ride-Share: an Opportunity Not to be Missed

C/2014 UN271 the comet which will NOT collide with the Earth

Project Lyra: Falcon Heavy Expendable

Project Lyra: Using an Ariane 6

Optimum Interplanetary Trajectory Software (OITS)

Music of ‘Oumuamua

Things to Come

Project Lyra: Using Jupiter Alone to get to ‘Oumuamua

‘Oumuamua: The State of Play

Why the Stars?

Exploring ‘Oumuamua’s Trajectory – Further Notes

Exploring ‘Oumuamua’s Perihelion Date

Principium 43

Members Newsletter – November

PROJECT HYPERION: THE HOLLOW ASTEROID STARSHIP – DISSEMINATION OF AN IDEA

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