This year, 2012, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA)  gave its stamp of approval to and seed funded — 100 Year Starship (100YSS) — a private organization to achieve perhaps the most daring initiative ever in space exploration:  human travel beyond our solar system to another star!

The Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence was selected by DARPA to receive seed funding to form 100 Year Starship (100YSS), an independent, non-governmental, long-term initiative that will ensure that the capabilities for human interstellar flight exist as soon as possible, and definitely within the next 100 years.

The winning 100YSS proposal, “An Inclusive, Audacious Journey Transforms Life Here on Earth and Beyond,” was created by Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence with team members Icarus Interstellar and the Foundation for Enterprise Development.

Alongside the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence, a non-profit organization that promotes science, technology, engineering and mathematics (STEM) awareness and achievement, the principal 100 Year Starship team members are: Icarus Interstellar, a non-profit research and development organization dedicated to the research that will enable interstellar flight; and the Foundation for Enterprise Development, centered on governance, innovation, entrepreneurship, technology and R&D based organizational planning, management, and strategic planning. The SETI Institute, a private, non-profit organization dedicated to astronomy, life sciences, education, and public outreach, will hold a permanent seat on the 100YSS Advisory Council.

To sign up for e-mail alerts from 100 Year Starship or learn more about the 100YSS Public Symposium visit www.100YSS.org. Follow 100 Year Starship on Twitter (@100YSS). Contact 100 Year Starship at [email protected].