The Fourth Tennessee Valley Interstellar Workshop
From Iron Horse to Worldship: Becoming an Interstellar Civilization
February 2 through March 1, 2016
Chattanooga, Tennessee
The Fourth TVIW Symposium was held in Chattanooga, Tennessee, from February 2 through March 1, 2016, at the historic Chattanooga Choo Choo hotel. Over 100 attendees spent two days hearing the latest in propulsion, humans in space, and settlements on other worlds by leaders in the space and interstellar fields. The group of participants enjoyed the Tennessee sunshine for a group photo.
The talks were taped by videographer John Preston, and are archived here.
We had speakers from all over the US, coast to coast, as well as Canada, England, and Germany.
The symposium began, as in the past, with a day of seminars on Sunday: Geoengineering by Robert Kennedy; Conflict in Space by Maj. Brent Ziarnick; Terraforming 102 by Ken Roy; and Space Propulsion101 by Les Johnson.
Baen Books and Toni Weisskopf hosted our traditional Opening Reception on Sunday evening. With art work provided from the collection of Naomi Fisher, it was a great time to meet fellow participants and renew old friendships.
Monday, the symposium opened with a keynote by Dr. John Lewis, ‘Cutting the Umbilical Cord to Earth’.
By special invitation, Lt. Gen. Steven Kwast spoke on America’s far future in space.
In the later afternoon, the attendees broke into working tracks (‘Homo Stellaris’, ‘Life System Engineering’, ‘Space Solar Power’, and ‘Space Mining’. Kaffeeklatsches (informal discussion groups) met in the Centennial Hall.
At dinner on Monday, sponsored by Digital Oilfield Solutions, Kelvin Long of I4IS spoke about ‘SETI, Interstellar Diffusion and Stability Equilibrium Hypotheses in Galactic Civilizations’.
Tuesday morning opened with a series of talks on propulsion. After lunch, the working tracks met again, with a report out after the coffee break. Dr. Philip Lubin gave the closing talk on ‘Roadmap to Interstellar Flight’. Tuesday evening was the public event: ‘Interstellar Travel, and Science Fiction Becoming Science Fact – Science Fiction Authors Panel’, held at the Waypaver Foundation, with introduction by Chattanooga Mayer Andy Berke, with a book sale by Barnes & Noble afterwards.
Our deepest thanks to our collaborators and sponsors, without whom this symposium would not have been possible:
TVIW 2016 Organizing Committee:
Lorraine Glynn, Eric Hughes, Les Johnson, Robert Kennedy, Dru Kirkpatrick, Martha Knowles, Bart Leahy, Yohon Lo, Greg Matloff, Joe Meany, Dru Myers, John Preston, Ken Roy, Brandy Spraker, Brent Ziarnick