MIGUEL ALCUBIERRE TO SPEAK AT

STARSHIP CONGRESS 2017 Miguel Alcubierre to present at Starship Congress 2017

“Father of Warp Field Mechanics” to make rare US appearance



Alcubierre joins David Brin, Franck Marchis, Jesse Schanahan, David Livingston at Icarus Interstellar biennial Space Event

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Starship Congress 2017 theme announced: “Space is for Everybody”

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Monterey, CA—Icarus Interstellar today revealed that theoretical physicist Miguel Albubierre will be making a rare appearance in the US as Special Guest Speaker at the interstellar space science organization’s biennial Starship Congress summit. Dr Alcubierre’s appearance will be part of the program on the three-day event taking place August 7-9, in Monterey, CA. In 1994, Miguel Alcubierre authored the first-ever academic paper on a working warp drive engine, The warp drive: hyper-fast travel within general relativity, which significantly was consistent with Albert Einstein’s general theory of relativity. The so-called Alcubierre Drive could theoretically allow space ships to travel across interstellar distances and even explore the universe. Since that time Dr Alcubierre has gained worldwide recognition as the “Father of Warp Field Mechanics” for his work developing the mathematics necessary for warp drive engines, the popular method of space ship propulsion heavily drawn upon in such famous movie and television franchises as Star Trek and Star Wars. The Alcubierre Drive was also central to the storyline in Christopher Nolan’s popular science fiction film, Interstellar. Dr Alcubierre has notably worked at Max Planck Institute for Gravitational Physics developing numerical methods to describe black holes and is a professor at National Autonomous University of Mexico in Mexico City. Mike Mongo, strategic director for Starship Congress and vice-president of Icarus Interstellar, explains how Dr Alcubierre’s speaking appearance came about. “Miguel and I have been talking for a couple of years on a variety of topics, most of which are not interstellar space engines. However, when Starship Congress 2017 was in its planning stages I ran the idea by him of his speaking. As it turns out, he has some new work he wants to talk about, he was up for it, and he agreed.” “To be honest, I am as excited as anyone,” says Mongo. “This is a chance to meet the most famous interstellar space science figure in the world, maybe history. I have no doubt [Dr Alcubierre’s] work on warp field mechanics will be impacting the world far beyond our lifetimes. For people in California and the US, it’s literally a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity to meet the scientist who has made starships an actual workable possibility for humankind.” Other featured guests include science fiction master David Brin, science communicator Jesse Shanahan, SETI Institute’s Franck Marchis, and space podcasting legend David Livingston. Computer inventor-scientist Alan Kay will be leading a special streaming Q&A on provoking an interstellar breakthrough. Starship Congress is the flagship event for Icarus Interstellar which every two years brings together scientists, artists, researchers, and advocates of interstellar space exploration for talks and planning. Starship Congress 2017 takes place August 7-9, Monterey Hyatt Regency, Monterey, CA. – Icarus Interstellar is dedicated to promoting the dream of interstellar flight, a dream springing from the same kernel of Boldness found in the original vision of humans taking flight. Founded as an organization in 2009, Icarus Interstellar became a 501c3 non-for-profit registered in the state of Alaska in 2011. BUILD A STARSHIP – Registration for Starship Congress:

https://www.eventbrite.com/e/starship-congress-2017-tickets-33352347770 – For more information,

visit http://icarusinterstellar.org/pages/starship-congress-2017

contact Icarus Interstellar at starshipcongress@icarusinterstellar.org

or tweet @starshipcongrss.



Monterey Hyatt Regency, 1 Old Golf Course Rd, Monterey, CA 93940 CALL FOR PAPERS Hyatt Regency Monterey Conference Center If we want to see interstellar accomplishments in our lifetime we need a staging area in space and we need to be able to get our people and our machines up there.



We dedicate each day of our meeting to addressing actions towards making Space a Place for Everybody and welcome the community to submit papers/presentations for each of the following:



Day 1: The Moon as a Stepping Stone to the Stars (MOON): Living on the Moon: Lunar city planning, lunar resources, construction, power, water, radiation shielding, living and working, economy, sociology.

Planetary, Deep Space and Interstellar exploration centered around the Moon: Spacecraft Shipyards, Lunar Space elevators, Planetary and Deep Space remote sensing Telescopes. Day 2: Massive Space Access Project (MSAP) aka "Children in Space": Earth to Moon and back: transport vehicles and systems, global logistics, tourism, legal and safety considerations, military presence.

Children in Space: Space education, youth space education program, people with disabilities in space, when will we send the first child to space? (when children can go to the moon, everyone will want to go!) Day 3: Massive Space Based Infrastructure (MSBI): Space and Lunar Industry: Space stations, mining stations, space services, telecommunications, zero gravity and lunar gravity manufacturing technology development

Space arts, sports, community and culture: everything not traditionally considered infrastructure, but which is necessary for humans to live, love and learn on the Moon and in space. SUBMISSION GUIDELINES Submit abstracts to starshipcongress@icarusinterstellar.org by Monday, July 3rd, 2017. Papers will be approved on a rolling basis with the final agenda shared on Monday, July 10th, 2017. Submit a Paper CONFERENCE REGISTERATION HOTEL RESERVATION HYATT REGENCY MONTEREY HOTEL & SPA

One Old Golf Course Rd, Monterey, CA 93940, USA

T +1.831.657.6541 E megan.whetton@hyatt.com

monterey.hyatt.com Reserve Room at Hyatt Monterey Regency WHAT IS STARSHIP CONGRESS Starship Congress 2013, Hilton Anatole, Houston, TX Starship Congress 2015, Drexel University, Philadelphia, PA At Starship Congress we put the utmost emphasis on bringing people together in discussion on actions, research and initatives towards interstellar achievements. We commit to a Single-Track meeting, with consideration to people with accessibility and hearing disabilities.



We want you to enjoy your time and be sharp, sociable and well rested so we built in numerous breaks and "shake-it-off" events for conversations.



The outcome of this meeting will set the research priorities of our organization and will define our messaging for the next two years. We invite everyone to be a part of this process, because we understand that this is a Mission for all Humankind.



See you in California!



BUILD A STARSHIP