The fourth Symposium of the Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop will be held in Chattanooga, from Feb. 28-March 2 at the Chattanooga Choo Choo Hotel, which organizers said inspired the theme of this year’s symposium, “From Iron Horse to Worldship: Becoming an Interstellar Civilization”.
Officials said, "This small gathering represents forward thinkers in fields as diverse as physiology & cognitive learning to planet terraforming and a multitude of sciences in between; each looking to take the early small steps that will one day bring the human race to the stars."
"We are setting the table for serious discussions about humanity's future as an interstellar civilization," said John Preston, TVIW president. "We want to provide fresh insights into the early challenges we face while developing technology and prepare for long-term space travel."
The Symposium is a mix of plenary talks and working tracks that promotes future collaboration among its participants. Working tracks for this year’s symposium include:
- Life Systems Engineering for the Worldship;
- Space Solar Power & Orbital Industry;
- Homo Stellaris; and
- Space Mining: Primary Processing of Olivine-based Asteroidal Material.
This year's keynote speaker will be John Lewis, PhD. Dr. Lewis is Professor Emeritus of Planetary Science at the University of Arizona’s Lunar and Planetary Laboratory. He is an expert on the composition and chemistry of asteroids and comets, and has written several popular science books, including Rain of Iron and Ice and Mining the Sky: Untold Riches from the Asteroids, Comets, and Planets. He is also the chief scientist for the asteroid mining group, Deep Space Industries.