Episode 67 — “Swarming Proxima Centauri: A Conversation with Marshall Eubanks” — is now Live!
This week, I sat down with Marshall Eubanks, a former engineer with NASA’s Jet Propulsion Laboratory (JPL), an astronomer with the U.S. Naval Observatory, and the CTO of the Lifport Group — a company dedicated to building a Space Elevator! Nowadays, he is the chief scientist of Space Initiatives Inc. and has been working with the Institute for Interstellar Studies (i4is) on Project Lyra, a spacecraft that could rendezvous with interstellar objects (like ‘Oumuamua) when they enter the Solar System.
He and his colleagues are also working on a concept that would send swarms of tiny spacecraft using direct-energy propulsion (lasers) that could travel to Proxima Centauri to explore the nearest exoplanet — Proxima b. Their concept was recently selected for Phase I development by NASA’s Innovative Advanced Concepts (NIAC) program, which includes a grant to develop the concept further.
But this was just one topic we discussed during our chat. Follow the links below to learn more!
Where to Listen:
Originally published at http://storiesbywilliams.com on February 29, 2024.
