Getting To The Stars

By Adam Frank

Published June 9, 2011 at 7:20 AM EDT

How would we create a probe that could bridge the distance to the stars? Project Icarus was one design for a nuclear powered "rocket". Here is a quick video showing the basic idea. From the authors:

Project Icarus is a theoretical design study of an interstellar starship. This movie illustrates how a Fusion Pulse Propulsion system works, which was the engine used for the 1970s Project Daedalus. Fusion releases, on average, about a million times from energy than traditional chemical rockets, and so would be perfectly suited for interstellar propulsion. To learn more, visit http://www.icarusinterstellar.org

If you have an extra hour you can watch this presentation on interstellar travel from the British Interplanetary Society (love that name!).

Adam Frank

Adam Frank was a contributor to the NPR blog 13.7: Cosmos & Culture. A professor at the University of Rochester, Frank is a theoretical/computational astrophysicist and currently heads a research group developing supercomputer code to study the formation and death of stars. Frank's research has also explored the evolution of newly born planets and the structure of clouds in the interstellar medium. Recently, he has begun work in the fields of astrobiology and network theory/data science. Frank also holds a joint appointment at the Laboratory for Laser Energetics, a Department of Energy fusion lab.

See stories by Adam Frank

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