The dream of exploring the far reaches of space and establishing human civilization on distant planets has captivated our imagination for generations. For centuries, we’ve known that most stars likely have their own planetary systems, and many have argued that humanity should not only explore these worlds but also settle on them. With the advent of the Space Age, this once fantastical notion has transformed into a scientific pursuit. However, the challenges of reaching another star system are immense, and the task of sending crewed missions beyond our solar system remains a distant, albeit tantalizing, goal.
When it comes down to it, there are two primary ways to make crewed interstellar travel a reality: the development of advanced propulsion systems capable of achieving relativistic speeds (a significant fraction of the speed of light), or the creation of spacecraft designed to sustain human life over multiple generations—also known as Generation Ships or Worldships.
On November 1st, 2024, Project Hyperion launched an international design competition focused on interstellar travel via generation ships. The competition invites participants from around the world to submit innovative concepts for crewed missions to exoplanets using current and near-future technologies, with a total prize pool of $10,000 (USD).
Project Hyperion is a collaborative effort of experts from various fields, including architects, engineers, anthropologists, and urban planners. Many of the team members have previously worked with leading organizations such as NASA, the European Space Agency (ESA), and the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT). The competition is sponsored by the Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is), a non-profit organization based in the UK, dedicated to advancing research in robotic and human exploration of exoplanets.
While the idea of interstellar travel dates back to the early days of space exploration, it has gained renewed interest in recent years, largely due to the explosion in the discovery of exoplanets. As of now, more than 5,700 exoplanets have been confirmed across over 4,300 star systems, fueling hope and ambition for humanity to someday venture beyond our own solar system.
Many of the current interstellar proposals focus on robotic missions. Initiatives like Breakthrough Starshot, Swarming Proxima Centauri, and the Genesis Project are exploring technologies such as lasers and lightsails to propel small, lightweight spacecraft to up to 20% of the speed of light, enabling travel to nearby stars in just a few decades. However, these concepts are designed for robotic probes, not human crews, and they still face significant technological hurdles.
Sending humans to another star system presents far greater challenges. Using existing or theoretically feasible propulsion systems, a spacecraft would take anywhere from 1,000 to 81,000 years to reach even the nearest star, Proxima Centauri. More advanced propulsion concepts, such as Project Orion, Daedalus, and Icarus, could theoretically reduce the travel time to between 36 and 85 years, but the costs and fuel requirements for such missions remain prohibitive.
This is where generation ships come into play. Instead of focusing on high-speed propulsion, the generation ship concept accepts that interstellar travel will take centuries, if not millennia. The key to this approach is developing spacecraft large enough to support entire generations of humans, with systems in place to ensure sustainability over the long journey.
For a generation ship to be viable, it would need to be self-sustaining. This means the crew would have to grow their own food, recycle water, and maintain life-support systems capable of sustaining life for hundreds or even thousands of years. The ship’s design would need to incorporate bioregenerative systems, where the ecosystem of the ship is carefully balanced to provide for the crew’s needs over time. Such systems would be essential for keeping passengers healthy and comfortable as they journey toward a new home light years away.
Project Hyperion’s competition aims to spark innovative solutions for these challenges by encouraging creative and practical designs for generation ships that can use current and near-future technology. The hope is that this competition will push the boundaries of human ingenuity and lay the groundwork for the next giant leap in humanity’s spacefaring ambitions.
In summary, while sending humans to another star system remains a monumental challenge, the competition launched by Project Hyperion represents a significant step forward in making interstellar travel—and the idea of generation ships—a reality. As we continue to explore the frontiers of space, the dream of planting human civilization on a distant world may one day come to fruition, not through a quick journey, but through a slow, steady trek across the stars.
By Impact Lab
