Whenever I mention to someone that I’m working on Project Icarus, a multi-year endeavor to design a starship that improves upon the original Daedalus concept of the 1970s, the almost-inevitable response is along the lines of “Oh, you don’t want to call it that! Icarus fell into the sea!”
That’s quite true, but Kelvin Long, the project lead on Icarus, has highlighted a wonderful quote from Arthur Eddington’s 1927 book Stars and Atoms which nicely sums up my feelings on the matter too.
In ancient days two aviators procured to themselves wings. Daedalus flew safely through the middle air and was duly honoured on his landing. Icarus soared upwards to the sun till the wax melted which bound his wings and his flight ended in fiasco. In weighing their achievements, there is something to be said for Icarus. The classical authorities tell us that he was only “doing a stunt”, but I prefer to think of him as the man who brought to light a serious constructional defect in the flying-machines of his day. So, too, in Science. Cautious Daedalus will apply his theories where he feels confident they will safely go; but by his excess of caution their hidden weaknesses remain undiscovered. Icarus will strain his theories to the breaking-point till the weak joints gape. For the mere adventure? Perhaps partly; this is human nature. But if he is destined not yet to reach the sun and solve finally the riddle of its constitution, we may at least hope to learn from his journey some hints to build a better machine.
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