[FPSPACE] Tau Zero Foundation Announced

[LARRY KLAES]

http://www.centauri-dreams.org/?p=718

Tau Zero Foundation Announced

Last February, Centauri Dreams described the formation of a new foundation, 
a private nonprofit (501c3) corporation dedicated to supporting the advances 
in science, technology and education that may one day enable us to reach the 
stars.

Conceived by Marc Millis, former head of NASA’s Breakthrough Propulsion 
Physics program, the foundation aims to support a carefully chosen group of 
researchers whose work is directed at this goal. On that occasion, I 
described the fledgling foundation’s need for a name and asked for comments 
from readers. Now that the choice has been made and the necessary legal work 
accomplished, it’s time to announce the advent of the Tau Zero Foundation.

Inspired by the Poul Anderson novel of the same name and seconded by a 
number of readers, Tau Zero seemed a natural fit. Tau refers to the Greek 
letter representing proper time in relativistic equations. Tau Zero refers 
to what happens when one approaches light-speed and one’s proper time 
shrinks compared to the surrounding universe. Thus the premise of the 
Anderson novel, as an interstellar craft unable to stop accelerating takes 
an inadvertent grand tour of the cosmos.

Anderson, who passed away in 2001, remains highly regarded as a science 
fiction writer whose work reflects sound and thoughtful science. He wrote 
often of interstellar flight and is believed to have inspired many students 
to become scientists and engineers. In February 2006, his widow, Karen 
Anderson, granted permission for the Foundation to use this name as well as 
joining the Foundation as one of its advocates herself.

Centauri Dreams‘ next post will be a statement by foundation founder Marc 
Millis discussing the goals and composition of the organization. An older 
background statement with more detail about the group’s structure is 
available, and all these documents will be be updated when the foundation’s 
Web site becomes operational. The Tau Zero Foundation is still in its 
infancy, but Centauri Dreams will continue to report on its growth and 
progress as events warrant. And as the foundation grows, this site will grow 
with it, continuing to report on developments in interstellar science that 
may bring the grand goal just a little closer.

A final thought: the motto of the foundation is ad astra incrementis. The 
Latin word incrementis is the root of English ‘incremental,’ a fitting 
thought given the nature of the challenge. Translated literally, ad astra 
incrementis means ‘to the stars in steps, with each step larger than the 
last.’ Going to the stars is not likely to be the result of a single 
breakthrough, but rather thousands of small, incremental discoveries that 
build upon each other.

The goal of the Tau Zero Foundation is to ensure that those early steps are 
taken now, so that some day people working with technologies far more 
advanced than our own may complete the work of reaching nearby stars and 
giving humanity the means to thrive beyond Earth. If that is a future most 
of us may never live to see, it is enough to know that we played some role 
in bringing it about.