Technical Note - Project Icarus: The Origins and Aims of the Study

A brief summary is presented on the origins and aims of Project Icarus, the joint British Interplanetary Society (BIS) and Tau Zero Foundation (TZF) theoretical engineering study for the design of an unmanned interstellar probe. This paper is intended to represent an introduction to the set of technical papers presented in this special issue as well as discussing some of the early history regarding the formation of Project Icarus. This is a submission of the Project Icarus Study Group.