Former president Bill Clinton has lent his support to the 100-Year Starship initiative, a project started by the U.S. Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA ) to research interstellar travel.
While humanity has sent spacecraft throughout the solar system, traveling to another star is a whole different ballgame. The distances involved are significantly greater, and so are the attendant technological challenges.
"This important effort helps advance the knowledge and technologies required to explore space, all while generating the necessary tools that enhance our quality of life on earth," President Clinton said in a statement.
"The 100YSS 2012 Public Symposium will bring together influential thought, scientific and cultural leaders to explore the technologies, science, social structures and strategies needed to make capabilities for human travel to another star system a reality within the next century," officials said in a statement.
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