Kelvin Long

Abstract:
It is well known that conventional space propulsion schemes are inadequate for longer term missions to the outer solar system and nearby stars. Fusion propulsion is a technology that is both appropriate for such missions and may be available within decades. In this paper we will discuss the physics relevant to fusion based propulsion and the prospects for this technology reaching technological maturity in the near future. Some historical theoretical projects that included fusion based propulsion will be discussed, such as Daedalus, Longshot and Vista. Finally, the topic of antimatter catalyzed fusion will be discussed and whether this offers potential performance gains to a fusion based drive.

Biography:
Kelvin Long completed his degrees in Aerospace Engineering and Astrophysics at Queen Mary College, University of London in 2002. He is a scientist in the plasma physics industry with an interest in propulsion physics for future missions to the nearest stars. He is Fellow The British Interplanetary Society, Fellow Royal Astronomical Society, Member American Institute Aeronautics & Astronautics, Chartered Physicist and a Practitioner of The Tau Zero Foundation. He has published numerous articles and papers on various aspects of space travel.

Tibor Pacher

Abstract:
Interstellar space flight and closely related topics likes a possible encounter with extraterrestrial life are on the edge of interdisciplinary research. By their very nature these topics require unconventional thinking. I discuss two practical approaches which are expected to generate new ideas for practical interstellar flight, involve the public and are purposely not restricted to academics: a) make a provocative but accountable prediction (an example for this is the Interstellar Bet, see www.longbets.org/395) b) call for Crazy Ideas and publish them in a controlled way on the web (see the Crazy Ideas section at www.peregrinus-interstellar.net ). Special attention is paid to the following aspects: a) how to meet the often sceptical attitude of the scientific community to out-of-the-mainstream research; b) how to deal with the possible proximity to lunatic fringe ideas; c) how to ensure scientific rigor. Usage of social networking – now rapidly emerging in the internet – within these approaches and its potential benefits are described. Reports on first real-life experiences regarding both the Interstellar Bet and Crazy Ideas will be presented. I discuss other possibilities for fostering ideas and unconventional thinking briefly in the context of interstellar space flight as well, including prize contests.

Biography:
Dr. Tibor Pacher works currently as a freelancer consultant for Management and Financial Accounting processes and their support by software systems. Trained as a physicist at the Eötvös University in Budapest, his first works at the University of Heidelberg as well as during a visit at Fermilab were related to Cosmology. His PhD thesis, earned at the University of Heidelberg, dealt with a quantum chemistry topic. He worked on the ISOPHOT project for ESA’s Infrared Space Observatory at the Max-Planck Institute for Astronomy as well. Countless discussions and permanent thinking on how to raise citizens’ support for credible scientific and engineering work, tied to his lifelong interest on interstellar travel and the search for life in the Universe, led him eventually to initiate peregrinus interstellar

Claudio Maccone

Abstract:
The nearest stellar system, the Alpha Centauri three stars system, is located about 4.40 light-years away. This amounts to 278,261 AU. But at only 550 AU, or, more generally, at only about 1,000 AU, the focus of the gravitational lens of the Sun is found, that is then 278 times closer than our nearest interstellar target. In other words, assuming equal engineering problems, the trip to the Sun focus takes 278 times less than the trip to the nearest stellar target. This makes the Sun focus a reasonable target for our probes to reach within this century. It also plainly appears that, before we send a probe towards anyone of the nearest stellar systems, we’ll need a detailed radio map of that stellar system. In other words, we need a huge radio magnification of all objects located in that neighborhood, and nothing is better than the huge magnification provided by the gravitational lens of the Sun. Thus, sending a preliminary probe to 1,000 AU in the direction opposite to the target stellar system clearly must be done before any interstellar flight to that stellar system is even designed, not to say attempted. In this paper a status review is presented about the “FOCAL” probe to 550 or 1000 AU. The relevant scientific, propulsion and telecommunication issues are briefly summarized and updated.

Biography:
Claudio completed his first degrees at the University of Turin (Italy) in 1972 and 1974 and later completed hid PhD in 1980 in the Department of Mathematics at Kings College London from an award by the British Council. His thesis embodied the Karhunen-Loève eigenfunctions of the power-like time-rescaled Brownian motion, later published in several papers. In 1977 he was awarded a Fulbright scholarship enabling him to study and reside in New York City. There he researched the theory of stochastic processes at the Department of Electrical Engineering of the Polytechnic Institute (now Polytechnic University) of New York. In 1985 he joined the Space Systems Group of Aeritalia (now Alenia Spazio), in Turin, as a technical expert for the design of artificial satellites, working on space missions like the Quasat satellite for radioastronomy, the Tethered Satellite flown by the U.S. Space Shuttle in 1992 and 1996, and the design of a Solar Sail to reach Mars while being pushed by sunlight. He has been a proponent of an ESA proposal for the design, construction and launch of the ‘FOCAL’ space missions, intended to be launched to outside the solar system to a distance of 550 Astronomical Units, to exploit the huge radio magnification provided by the gravitational lens of the Sun as predicted by general relativity. He has published many technical papers including several books such as ‘Telecommunications, KLT and Relativity’ and ‘The Sun as a Gravitational Lens: Proposed Space Missions’, which was awarded the 1999 Book Award for the Engineering Sciences by the International Academy of Astronautics. In 1997 he was elected a Member of the International Academy of Astronautics. Asteroid 11264 was named ‘Claudiomaccone’ in his honour by the International Astronomical Union.

Luca Derosa

Abstract:
This presentation takes into account the problem of the relativistic space engineering and some solutions with which to begin a more exhaustive study are suggested. Results are shown of the study of some important velocity profiles for a relativistic space mission (in special relativity): uniform motion, hyperbolic motion, constant thrust motion and negative exponential thrust motion. A study on the Lorentz transformations of the main formulas used to study the reliability of systems for six important distributions are presented: Weibull, exponential, normal, lognormal, gamma, Gumbel. Some consideration concerning advanced space propulsion is also presented and finally, there is a discussion on the unsolved problem of temperature transformation, comparing the main theories known.

Biography:
Currently CEO of Italian company, iMEX.A. In 2002 Luca obtained an Aerospace Engineering Degree at Politecnico di Torino (Polytechnic of Turin, Italy). The thesis work (done at Politecnico di Torino and at Thales Alenia Space Italia - former Alenia Spazio) was "Relativistic Space Missions and Systems Behaviour". In 2003 he obtained a Master of Science in Aerospace Engineering at Stanford University (USA) and at Politecnico di Torino, and the research topic was "University Space missions and International University Cooperation for Space". Finally, in 2007 he obtained a PhD in Aerospace Engineering at Politecnico di Torino with the title "Engineering of Relativistic Space Missions and Advanced Propulsion". His research activity concerns advanced space propulsion (electrical, nuclear, antimatter, radioactive decay, etc.), lunar scientific missions, rules of technical-scientific communications, and scientific divulgation.

Mike McCulloch

Abstract:
The Pioneer and flyby anomalies are well-observed unbound spacecraft trajectories that seem to disagree with known physics. It is shown here that these anomalies can be fairly well reproduced using a model that assumes that inertia is caused by Unruh radiation and reduces in a new way as accelerations become very small because of a Hubble-scale Casimir effect. The model requires more testing (some experiments will be suggested) and it is unclear why it should only apply to unbound orbits, but it implies that 1) the inertial mass of interstellar craft may be lower than expected, Pioneer 10 & 11 being the first examples of this, and 2) it may be possible to further reduce the inertial mass of such craft by bending Unruh radiation around them, perhaps using the metamaterial cloaks recently developed, producing greater acceleration for a given external force.

Biography:
Dr Mike McCulloch has been fascinated by space travel since childhood and is now a part-time lecturer in geomatics (satellite remote sensing) at the University of Plymouth, a part-time advanced engineer at a satellite data analysis company, and an honorary fellow in the astrophysics group at the University of Exeter. He studied physics at the University of York and received a PhD in physical oceanography at the University of Liverpool. From 1998 to 2008 he worked as a scientist at the Met Office. He has published in ocean and space physics and enjoys looking for anomalies and developing new physical models to explain them.

Remo Garattini

Abstract

Traversable Wormholes provide an interesting tool for interstellar travel. They represent Space Time tunnels connecting far points in the universe or even two different universes. Unfortunately, their existence and stability is related to the existence of a very particular form of energy known as ‘’Exotic Matter’’ which has the unpleasant feature of being negative. Despite of this difficulty, there exists a known form of energy that appears to be a good candidate for playing the role of the Exotic Matter, namely Casimir Energy. The study of Casimir Energy is well known in QED phenomena, but it has obtained a growing interest in various fields of physics and technology, especially in the nanotechnology devices where it appears that this effect be relevant.

Biography

Remo Garattini completed his first degree in Theoretical Physics at the University of Milan and later completed his PhD at the Mons-Hainaut University in Belgium with a thesis on Space Time Foam. He has a permanent research position at the University of Bergamo, Faculty of Engineering. His research activities are in Quantum Gravity and Quantum Cosmology. A particular interest Is in traversable wormholes subject.