Tenth Interstellar Symposium
12-15 September, 2027 • Atlanta, Georgia
In September 2027, the Interstellar Research Group (IRG) will convene the 10th Interstellar Symposium, a multi-day gathering that unites experts from diverse, often siloed scientific, technical, social science, and humanities disciplines to address the foundational challenges of achieving sustainable multiplanetary and multi-stellar human habitation.
The symposium will be hosted on the Georgia Tech campus in Atlanta and co-sponsored by the Georgia Tech Space Research Institute. Our goals are fostering connections across fields, enabling new collaborations, communicating scientific advances to broader audiences, and advancing understanding in areas such as astrophysics, planetary science, advanced propulsion, life support, and the societal dimensions of long-duration space exploration.
The 10th Interstellar Symposium will feature plenary lectures, workshops, and dedicated networking opportunities. By design, the event creates space for serendipitous connections among participants who might not otherwise interact—astrophysicists with ethicists, engineers with historians, and biologists with policy experts.
Our target audience comprises researchers from government laboratories, leading academic institutions, and the private sector. Submissions for both plenary sessions and poster sessions will be reviewed by a program committee of scientists across the entire gamut of IRG’s intellectual interests. Given the timescales involved in exploring interstellar research, we have a particular interest in recruiting participation (via attendance or presentations) by young researchers, including undergraduates, graduate students, and junior faculty. We will be offering free or heavily-discounted admission to active undergraduate and graduate students, and will be particularly targeting science and engineering programs in the Southeast U.S.
Preliminary Call for Papers
A formal call for papers will be published in early 2027. But prospective speakers can begin preparing their work now, either for a keynote (45 minutes), plenary session (20 minutes), or poster session. Student teams, in particular, will want to focus on developing their work during the 2026-2027 academic year.
Topics of interest include, but are not limited to:
Programming will emphasize emerging developments in
Advanced power and propulsion systems,
Autonomy/advanced robotics for uncrewed missions,
Life support for long duration missions,
Crew health, both physical and psychological,
Communications across vast distances,
Planetary science relevant to exoplanets and solar system destinations,
and cross-cutting themes such as governance of interstellar missions and equitable access to space exploration benefits.
Logistics and Registration
The symposium will be held on the campus of Georgia Tech in Atlanta, Georgia. Conference hotel information will be posted when available. Registration fees have not yet been finalized, but will be targeted at under $300/person.
Student Focus
The first thirty undergraduate or graduate students who have a paper or poster accepted by the program committee will have all registration fees waived. All other active undergraduate or graduate students will qualify for a special $25 registration fee for the entire symposium.
Membership
We encourage those interested in participating in our symposia to join IRG as a member. Benefits include monthly videos, a quarterly newsletter, and discounts on symposium registration and other materials. You may join at the link below.