Project Daedalus was a study conducted by the British Interplanetary Society between 1973 and 1978 to design a 54,000-ton interstellar spacecraft that could only be built using current or future technology. It was designed to reach Bernard’s Star, 5.9 light-years away, in 50 years using helium-3/deuterium pellets as fuel. The spacecraft would be unmanned and would simply fly through the target star system at 10% the speed of light, making observations along its path. Daedalus was never built, but it remains a data point for interstellar travel brainstorming.
Project Daedalus is the name of an extremely large (54,000 tons) interstellar spacecraft, designed as part of a proof-of-concept exercise. Project Daedalus was also the name of that study, conducted between 1973 and 1978 by the British Interplanetary Society. Project Daedalus continues to feature in discussions of interstellar travel. One of its requirements was that it could only be built using current or future technology of the time. Daedalus was never built, of course, and perhaps never will be, but it helps establish an interesting data point for interstellar travel brainstorming.
Daedalus’ target star was Bernard’s Star, located 5.9 light-years away. At the time it was thought to have at least one planet, but the evidence on which it was based has since been eliminated. Daedalus was to be unmanned and would take only 50 years to reach the target system. He was expressly designed to achieve his goal in less than one human life.
With its enormous weight and size (190 meters), Daedalus should have been built in orbit. Daedalus was to be powered by helium-3/deuterium pellets, the nuclei of which would be fused together by an inertial confinement laser. By fusing 150 pellets per second, large quantities of superheated plasma would be released, which would then be accelerated out the rear of the craft using a magnetic nozzle. Shooting like this for about three years, Daedalus could reach 10% the speed of light. The fuel to slow down would have put too much weight on the aircraft, so it was not included. The spacecraft would simply fly through Bernard’s star system at 10% the speed of light, making observations along its path and continuing forward until it could avoid falling into another star or a black hole.
Some of the project specifications:
Total length: 190 meters
First stage propellant mass: 46,000 tons
Second stage propellant mass: 4000 tons
Empty mass of the first stage: 1690 tons
Empty mass of the second stage: 980 tons
First stage engine burn time: 2.05 years
Burn time of second stage engine: 1.76 years d
First stage thrust: 754,000 Newtons
Second stage thrust: 663,000 Newtons
Engine exhaust speed: 10,000 km/s
Payload mass: 450 tons
Daedalus would be an amazing vessel to see built and would provide the first close-up images of another star system. Maybe one day it will be built, when the cost of necessary technologies, such as space launches, decreases.
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