DARPA dares to explore strange new worlds

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency issued a request for information May 5 for a "100-Year Starship Study" which it hopes will lead to private-sector investment in “the myriad of disciplines needed to make interstellar space travel practicable and feasible.”

The timing is odd to say the least, writes Robert Wall at Aviation Week’s Ares Blog, what with the U.S. human space flight program in hiatus and the space shuttle program having reached an end.

DARPA, ever the optimist among federal agencies, wants to "foster a rebirth of the sense of wonder among students, academia, industry, researchers and the general population" over a project with truly galactic ambitions, according to the solicitation.