100 Year Starship Public Symposium Focuses Attention on Future Scientific Challenges

The 100 Year Starship Public Symposium wrapped up today in Orlando, Florida. The event promoted a compelling dialog among academia, business, the public and government about issues related to long term, long distance exploration. The event was convened with the intent that the knowledge gained would be directly relevant to the Department of Defense (DoD).

“We achieved our objective,” said David Neyland, DARPA Tactical Technology Office Director. “Discussions at the event were both rigorously technical and profoundly thought provoking.”

Symposium attendees were exposed to presentations such as “Nuclear Thermal Propulsion,” “Combined Imaging, Power Generation and Distribution, Propulsion and Communication Subsystems” and “Pulsar Navigation and Maser Navigation.” Not only were attendees able to hear from industry luminaries, they were encouraged to share their own ideas.

Neyland continued, “For DARPA, our mission is the warfighter, and the scientific advances that may come out of an aspirational goal such as what we’ve started here could lead to advances in defense. Energy innovations could mean our soldiers don’t have to carry 45 lbs. of batteries with them in theater. If we can innovate food production for long-term flights, we can generate food at forward operating bases even in harsh environments. And of particular interest to me, the event’s discussions about metamaterials and propulsion have direct relevance to next-generation DoD platforms.”

By tapping new audiences, the DoD will benefit from fresh insights that can help it solve some of the most profound challenges in supporting and protecting men and women in uniform.

Media with inquiries, contact DARPA Public Affairs, DARPAPublicAffairsOffice@darpa.mil