Thinking Interstellar? Head for Albuquerque

by | Feb 14, 2005 | Breakthrough Propulsion, Sail Concepts

The Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF) opens today in Albuquerque. That makes New Mexico the place to be for new propulsion concepts and mission studies — STAIF-2005 hosts six concurrent conferences organized by the University of New Mexico’s Institute for Space and Nuclear Power Studies, and attendance is international in scope. Everything is on the table, from low-cost launch vehicles to nuclear propulsion, from robotics concepts for deep space missions to quantum entanglement.

The proceedings of STAIF-2005 will be published by the American Institute of Physics, but Centauri Dreams will be digging around before then trying to come up with information on interstellar issues presented at the conference. Papers that catch the eye from a quick glance through this massive program:

  • “The GEM (Gravity-Electro-Magnetism) Theory of Field Unification and its Application to Human Flight and Gravity Wave Production and Detection” — John Brandenburg, Florida Space Institute-University of Central Florida, Kennedy Space Center, Florida
  • “The Innovative Interstellar Explorer ‘Vision Mission'” — R. L. McNutt, Jr., R. E. Gold, S. M. Krimigis, Johns Hopikins University et al.
  • “Teleportation via Wormhole-Stargates” — Eric W. Davis, Institute for Advanced Studies, Austin TX
  • “Propulsion Challenges and Mach Effects” — James F. Woodward, California State University, Fullerton, CA
  • “Universal Entanglement, Moessbauer Qubits, Equivalence and Mach’s Principles and, All That” — Ciprian Ciubotariu, Universite Laval, Laval, Quebec, Canada
  • “The Plasma Magnet for Sailing the Solar Wind” — John Slough, University of Washington, Seattle, WA
  • “Advancements in Dense Plasma Focus (DPF) for Space Propulsion” — Robert Thomas, Yang Yang, G.H. Miley, University of Illinois at Urbana-Champaign, Urbana, IL; F.B. Mead, Air Force Research Laboratory, Edwards AFB, CA
  • “Antimatter Driven Sail for Deep Space Missions” — Steven D. Howe and Gerald P. Jackson, Hbar Technologies, LLC, West Chicago, IL
  • “Antiproton Powered Gas Core Fission Rocket” — Terry Kammash, University of Michigan, Ann Arbor, MI
  • “A Perspective of Practical Interstellar Exploration: Using Field Propulsion and Hyper-Space Navigation Theory” — Y. Minami, NEC Patent Service, Ltd., Tokyo, Japan

    • These sessions are only a suggestion of the riches STAIF-2005 offers. We’ll be discussing many of these concepts in coming weeks.

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    In Centauri Dreams, Paul Gilster looks at peer-reviewed research on deep space exploration, with an eye toward interstellar possibilities. For many years this site coordinated its efforts with the Tau Zero Foundation. It now serves as an independent forum for deep space news and ideas. In the logo above, the leftmost star is Alpha Centauri, a triple system closer than any other star, and a primary target for early interstellar probes. To its right is Beta Centauri (not a part of the Alpha Centauri system), with Beta, Gamma, Delta and Epsilon Crucis, stars in the Southern Cross, visible at the far right (image courtesy of Marco Lorenzi).

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