Research Month: How Fast Can We Go? How Much Energy Can We Generate and Control?

Join the research workshop “How Fast Can We Go? How Much Energy Can We Generate and Control?” facilitated by Mae Jemison, M.D., and Sonya Smith, Ph.D.

Achieving interstellar velocities within human-reasonable timeframes requires propulsion, energy generation, storage, and control capabilities that approach the limits of modern physics and extend beyond current engineering practices. While no known physical law strictly precludes relativistic travel, the technological, energetic, and systems-integration challenges are significant.

This April 2026 workshop at Howard University will convene a cross-disciplinary peer group to define a framework for a "100 Year Starship Crucible"—establishing criteria for interstellar propulsion and energy architectures that embed tactical autonomy as a core enabling capability.

The workshop will examine propulsion concepts spanning existing systems, 10–30-year developmental horizons, and theoretical propositions. In each domain, tactical autonomy will be treated as an architectural requirement.

Astronaut Mae Jemison and RITA UARC Executive Director Sonya Smith will lead a discussion with participants that include propulsion researchers (current, advanced, and exotic), experts in high-energy physics and materials, specialists in autonomy and AI/ML, communication and navigation engineers, and scholars from adjacent fields whose insights may reveal non-traditional solutions.