Project Icarus: Strategic Roadmap Conclusions of the Starship Design Study
£5.00
Kelvin F. Long
jbis-078-05-0155
DOI https://doi.org/10.59332/jbis-078-05-0155
In 2009 members of the British Interplanetary Society initiated a starship design study called Project Icarus. This was an effort to design a fusion powered interstellar probe that could decelerate at an interstellar target within a 100-year timeframe. It was also an attempt to redesign a concept from the 1970s known as Project Daedalus which was a flyby probe. Although some considerations were given to how such a spacecraft could be assembled and with what materials, there was little effort to lay out the pathway for which such a mission would become realisable. The fulfilment of such a mission requires long-term planning via a strategic and technological roadmap. In this paper we present such a plan, considering the technology steps leading to missions that explore interplanetary space, interstellar space and the interstellar medium in between. Using the ICF architecture route as an example, we discuss how the achievement of one mission capability will lead to the possibility of achieving the next, with each one being higher in energy requirements until all nearby star systems within ~20 ly have undergone full reconnaissance by our robotic probes carrying 150 tonnes
payload. Calculations suggest that the initial interstellar programme leading up to the first launch of an interstellar rendezvous probe, conducted over 150 years duration, may cost in the range of $165-310 billion but could be much lower. This paper is a final contribution from the Project Icarus Study Group.
Keywords: Interstellar Studies, Fusion Propulsion, Project Daedalus, Project Icarus
