Jan. 4, 2012 "Humanity's adventurous, stubborn, mad and glorious
aspiration to reach the stars" is the subject of Physics World's
lead feature in January. Sidney Perkowitz, Candler Professor of
Physics Emeritus at Emory University, Atlanta, US, reports from
the 100 Year Starship Study (100YSS) conference and discusses
the challenges that interstellar travel presents. With current
propulsion technology only able to move spacecraft at 0.005% of
the speed of light, a one-way trip to the star system nearest
our Sun, Alpha Centauri, would take 80,000 years to travel the
four light-years to our nearest stellar neighbours. Delegates at
100YSS -- from ex-astronauts to engineers, artists, students and
science-fiction writers -- looked at the range of issues facing
scientists who would like to make the "mad and glorious
aspiration" a reality. Starting with the development of a rocket
engine that can reach high velocity, humans are not short of
initiative, but, as Perkowitz describes, even with engines based
on photon-p