Working Tracks Working Tracks are collaborative, small group discussions around a set of interdisciplinary questions on an interstellar subject. In previous years, we’ve hosted up to four parallel tracks with participants discussing topics such as: spaceship design; life-systems design; propulsion systems; target (planetary and stellar) selection; prerequisite technology development; and human factors necessary for interstellar exploration and colonization. Working Tracks will be allocated 2-hour blocks each day for in-depth conversation between participants, led by a Track Moderator, and work best with participants who have engaged in pre-symposium reading and discussion with other Track participants. Working Track Full Proposals shall recommend tangible output (papers, workshops, seminars, etc.) from the Symposium. Prior forms of output have included space exploration blogs, scientific papers in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society and non-fiction/fiction anthologies. Descriptions of the Working Tracks follow: Step by Step to the Stars This working track will investigate ways to influence society in general to ensure long-term, continuing support for the interstellar effort. Even before determining who will go, and what they will need to take, there are industrial and financial capabilities are needed, both on and off earth, to make interstellar exploration feasible. In order for interstellar exploration to begin (and continue), there must be deep, long-lasting support from at least a significant portion of terrestrial society, along with the ability to construct and support the vessels needed, and the infrastructure to operate them and their ancillary requirements (communication, consumables, etc.). This working track will consider how this support can be engendered, expanded, and (possibly) institutionalized. Output of the working track will include recommendations on how to start building the infrastructure for societal motivation, mission support, and mission decisions (such as targets, crew & cargo selection). Planning for First Contact/SETI – Starting Now! This working track will discuss the framework for a traveling science exhibition with the working title Extraterrestrial Life & Civilizations: Science and Speculation. The exhibition’s conceptual framework might be built around a quote attributed to Arthur Clarke: “Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.” The proposed “first contact” scenario is that you are in deep space, beyond ready communication with Earth and therefore have only your immediate resources at hand. You encounter an artificial object of unknown (though not of human) origin… what do you do? What is the plan? How do you avoid starting a conflict, how do you protect humanity’s interests? What can you do to establish communication? Earth-based SETI and METI will also be considered. The outcome of the workshop would be an exhibition flow diagram outlining the topics, documentation of key messages, diagrams of the interpretive organization, conceptual sketches, and, afterwards, a concept proposal. The proposed exhibition would put visitors into the shoes of scientists, engineers, economists, politicians, and aliens to explore question about cosmology, life, civilization, spaceflight, communication technologies, and the scale of space‐time. The Evolving Role of Security & Intel in Space – Turning Paranoia into Preparation This working track will discuss the evolving role of Security and Intelligence in interplanetary and interstellar exploration and colonization. The emphasis will be on “evolving,” in other words, how does S&I become thoroughly integrated with exploration goals and missions and not simply become “red shirts” to be expended at whim. It will also discuss the needs of an interstellar colonization mission, both the composition of the group of colonists, the consumables needed during the voyage, and the materiels both biological and industrial needed to construct a viable colony upon arrival in the target star system. Building a starship is only part of the problem of interstellar colonization. This working track will act as the “S-2” and “S-4” for the mission, determining what the mission needs and how to make it available