The Icarus Interstellar Firefly
Robert Freeland wants to launch an interstellar probe -- not 100 years from now, but within his lifetime.
As Icarus Board Member and Deputy Project Leader, Freeland presented at the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop (TVIW) in November, to propose a design for an starship that has all the things he likes: speed, elegance, and a short lead time.
"Firefly" (named so for its bright tail) is almost too pretty. It doesn't seem right, after decades of tin can projects by NASA, to envision elegance in a practical design.
But let the hard science fans be reassured: the entire morphology of the vessel follows directly from physical constraints. Even the pretty curve of the radiators was chosen to follow the actual heat load from the drive, while minimizing pumping distance and pipe/coolant mass. The design is backed by as much hard science as is available today.
It's quite likely that a probe launced 10 years from now will beat it to Alpha Centauri handily. Better to spend the time and money on figuring out to travel faster. ;-) To read more, click here.