onboard for 100 year starship

Director of Technology Tactical Office at DARPA, David Neyland makes recruitment pitches in search of those who want to do basic scientific research. A Universe Today article notes, "DARPA is known for its brand of 'blue sky science' where the scientific research they do might not have apparent and initial real-world applications." Is the reason the research remains a black project for many years? An explanation of the name is provided in the article, "..Neyland has been working with NASA Ames Director Pete Worden on the concept and Neyland said they chose the name not because they actually want to send a starship on a 100-year mission to space – although that would be the ultimate goal — but they want to capture the imagination of folks who normally wouldn’t think of doing research and development and tag them with something they would be excited about. " The 100 Year Starship Study website requests paper abstracts to stimulate basic research that hopefully lead to future research projects. It sounds like a wonderful opportunity for research scientists.

Another conference, "38th IFPA-Fletcher Conference on National Security Strategy and Policy," brings DARPA's research into the light. Neyland's presentation provides insight, "Some people may be familiar with the F117 having come out of the Have Blue program, but not everybody realizes the things like launch vehicles, the Taurus and the Pegasus, the Global Hawk, the Predator, the A160 today, a number of these things came as DARPA program." Neyland makes a similar recruiting pitch at the conference held last year in Washington DC. and it's clear the research leads to new weapons. The presentation is of interest as it makes DARPA more accessible and a little less in the shadows after reading. I'm still uncertain whether you want to actually climb onboard?