DARPA, NASA look to spawn STARSHIP enterprise

DARPA, NASA look to spawn STARSHIP enterprise

More details have emerged on the US government's plan to build a spacecraft capable of "a journey between the stars". Astoundingly, it is expected that this can be achieved with no more than "several hundred thousand dollars" of government funding.

This is because the idea is that the starship will not, in fact, be built or funded by the US government – nor any other. Even the mighty USA, goes the reasoning, could never muster the necessary levels of investment and focus over many decades which would be required by such a project.

Rather, the idea is to set up some new kind of organisation, potentially far wealthier, more powerful and more focused on the goal of interstellar flight than any national government could possibly be. The envisioned sub-$1m from the US treasury would be no more than seed money for this mighty organisation, whose structure and methods remain unknown as yet.