A symposium at Columbia University this weekend focused on “The Dawn of Private Space Science“. Videos of the many interesting talks are posted at Fiat Physica – Facebook. Here is a sampling:

** Pete Worden gave an update on the Breakthrough Initiatives, one of which is the development of a system to send tiny spacecraft to a nearby star:

** NASA historian Alex MacDonald talked about private space science projects going back to the early 1800s:

**Michael Paluszek reported on the Princeton Satellite Systems design for a nuclear fusion propulsion system that they believe could fly within a decade or so:

====