Skip to content
Guest Thinkers

Interstellar Spaceship Models

Project Icarus is an ambitious five-year study into launching an unmanned spacecraft to an interstellar destination headed by the Tau Zero Foundation, a non-profit group of scientists.
Sign up for Smart Faster newsletter
The most counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

In the 1970s, a British initiative named Project Daedalus designed a spacecraft meant to journey to another star. America’s project Icarus takes up the task anew. “One of the most exciting parts of Project Icarus which is on everyone’s mind with an interest in the project, is what will the spacecraft look like? Will it be very similar to the Daedalus design or radically different? The core section of the Daedalus vehicle was the use of a slender structural spine, from which all the other components could be attached. The use of this spine was possible due to the low vehicle acceleration levels and assembly in space.”

Sign up for Smart Faster newsletter
The most counterintuitive, surprising, and impactful new stories delivered to your inbox every Thursday.

Related

Up Next