A truly galactic opportunity

The Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency is reaching out to the dreamers in the aerospace industry. The Defense Department's research arm issued a request for information May 5 for a "100-Year Starship Study."

The goal is to foster private-sector investment in the research that will make "interstellar space travel practicable and feasible.”

The timing is odd according to Robert Wall at Aviation Week’s Ares Blog. The U.S. human space flight program is on hiatus and the space shuttle program is near its end.

But DARPA is moving forward and hopes to recreate what it calls a "sense of wonder" among students, industry, academia, research and John Q. Public for the possibility of space travel.