12-02, 09:00–16:00 (Europe/Luxembourg), Banquet Room
The Interstellar Research Group (IRG, formerly known as the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop (TVIW)) is holding its first Interstellar Symposium in Europe at Luxembourg City in Luxembourg from December 2-5, 2024.
As part of this event, three seminars will be offered on 2 December 2024 with morning and afternoon sessions. The first will start at 9:00 am and the other two will start at 1:00 pm. The IRG reception and social hour will be held that evening. Registration for the Symposium will be available that day.
Seminars are 3-hour presentations on a single subject, presented by individual(s) familiar with the topic and providing an in-depth look at that subject. Seminars are not included in the IRG Symposium costs and do not require Symposium membership to attend. Each Seminar costs 80€ per person payable in advance, provided space is available. Should someone desire to attend two seminars the cost is 150€. Students and senior citizens will be given a 50% discount. While these seminars can get technical, they are structured such that the average individual, along with the scientists and engineers can learn about the topic. Seminars have been a hallmark of the IRG Symposium from almost the beginning and have been well received. They give the presenter a change to go into far more detail on a given topic than is possible with a 20 minute presentation. Interactions between the presenter and the students is encouraged.
You may sign up for both a morning and afternoon session when you register for the Symposium, or you can add it later by editing your registration. If space is available, it will be possible to sign up at the door on Monday. If you are not attending the Symposium it is possible to sign up early for the Seminar(s) at https://feis2024.uni.lu/register/seminars or by signing up at the door on the day of the seminar.
Additional seminar topics may be added later, so check back occasionally. The seminar schedule is available at: https://pretalx.electroserv.eu/feis2024-seminars/schedule/
Andreas Hein is an associate professor of space systems engineering at the University of Luxembourg’s Interdisciplinary Center for Security, Reliability, and Trust (SnT). He works on space systems that are miniaturized and distributed, including ChipSats and CubeSats, operated in swarms and formations, in-space manufacturing, and in-situ resource utilization.
Andreas is also the Executive Director and Director Technical Programs of the UK-based not-for-profit Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is), where he is coordinating and contributing to research on diverse topics such as missions to interstellar objects, laser sail probes, self-replicating spacecraft, and world ships. He obtained his Bachelor’s and Master’s degree in aerospace engineering from the Technical University of Munich and conducted his PhD research on space systems engineering there and at MIT. He has published over 70 articles in peer-reviewed international journals and conferences.
Dr. Anders Sandberg is a researcher at the Mimir Centre for Long Term Futures at the Institute for Futures Studies in Stockholm. His research at the centers on management of low-probability high-impact risks, societal and ethical issues surrounding human enhancement, estimating the capabilities of future technologies, uncertainty, and very long-range futures. Topics of particular interest include global catastrophic risk, existential risk, cognitive enhancement, methods of forecasting, neuroethics, SETI, transhumanism, and future-oriented public policy.
He was senior research fellow at the Future of Humanity Institute at the University of Oxford 2006-2024. He is research associate of the Oxford Uehiro Centre for Practical Ethics, and the Center for the Study of Bioethics (Belgrade). He is on the board of the non-profits ALLFED and AI Objectives Institute. He is on the advisory boards of a number of organizations and often debates science and ethics in international media.
Anders has a background in computer science, neuroscience and medical engineering. He obtained his Ph.D. in computational neuroscience from Stockholm University, Sweden, for work on neural network modelling of human memory.
Les Johnson is a physicist, award-winning science and science fiction author, and Chief Technologist at the NASA George C. Marshall Space Flight Center. His science fiction books include Crisis at Proxima (Baen 2024), The Ross 248 Project (Baen 2023), Saving Proxima (Baen 2021), Pluto: The Dark World (coming from Tor 2025), and more. Les’s popular science books include A Traveler’s Guide to the Stars (Princeton Press 2022) – now translated into 7 languages, Graphene: The Superstrong, Superthin, and Superversatile Material That Will Revolutionize the World (2018), Solar Sails: A Novel Approach to Interplanetary Travel, and others.
In his day job at NASA, Les served as the Principal Investigator for flight demonstrations of advanced space propulsion technologies including solar sails and electrodynamic tethers, and supported the development of nuclear thermal propulsion, electric propulsion systems, and more. Les is a member of the International Academy of Astronautics, the British Interplanetary Society, the Science Fiction and Fantasy Writers of America, and MENSA – and is the Program Chair of the Interstellar Research Group.
Les was a technical consultant for the movies Europa Report, Lost in Space, and Solis. NPR, CNN, Fox News, The Science Channel and The Discovery Channel have all interviewed Les about space and space exploration. He was the featured Interstellar Explorer in the January 2013 issue of National Geographic magazine and appeared there again in March 2019.