THE Interstellar Propulsion Society, an organisation dedicated to transporting people beyond the Solar System, was launched last week. The society sees its main role as nurturing advances in science and engineering that will lead to manned missions to other star systems at 鈥渞elativistic velocities鈥�, close to the speed of light.
In more earthly terms, the society will provide a forum for scientists and engineers who want to collaborate on efforts to travel to distant stars.
The society plans to set up an online library that will hold all the world鈥檚 research into interstellar propulsion. Eventually, it hopes to sponsor research, award grants and fund academic chairs for those looking into the problems of travel between stars.
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It has the backing of researchers from the Boeing Defense and Space Group NASA鈥檚 Lewis Research Center, Martin Marietta and Britain鈥檚 AEA Technology.