In the Canadian Badlands, in the province of Alberta, there is a little town called Vulcan. The folks in Vulcan take the responsibility inherent in their name seriously. Every year, they host a mid-summer Star Trek celebration and festival called Spock Days. They are the Official Star Trek Capital of Canada, and the spiritual center of the Star Trek universe.
Star Trek fans and personalities alike make the pilgrimage to Vulcan. The town has developed a Tourism and Trek Station to welcome visitors, and is also home to a stunning collection of authentic costumes and props from Star Trek television programs and films located at the Trekcetera museum.
But the little town is looking to the future, beyond the fandom distinction of holding yet another festival. They want to become the real deal. They want to build a full-size, functional, warp-capable Starship Enterprise. And they’re not just chatting about it. They’re in early fundraising stages, and you can be a part of history by helping them launch their project.
The plan is a 40-year, $1.132 Trillion project to build a 1:1 scale fully functional U.S.S. Enterprise starship. The founders are aware that they face certain huge obstacles to realizing their goal. But, unlike other space programs, they are seriously and earnestly looking to overcome these with research and planning.
To that end, they have set up an IndieGogo fundraiser to collect their first funding goal of $2 billion in order to fund important research into the creation, and development, of warp-drive technology.
Super-luminal (faster-than-light) travel is critical to interstellar space travel. So research is key. Even if this ends up looking different than the fictional “warp travel” of the Star Trek franchise, there are possibilities already being looked at by NASA and others.
So the folks of Vulcan want to establish The Vulcan Super-Luminal Research Center that will become, as they say:
“[It] will become a repository for everything we, as a species, know about faster-than-light travel, gravity control and more. Most importantly, though, the VSLRC will also become home to an advisory panel comprised of the world’s foremost thinkers on the subject, who will be tasked with determining which research projects into warp-related fields will be funded through the VSLRC.”
But knowing how to get to the stars is one thing. You also need to build a vessel that can actually get there. The folks of Vulcan envision a Vulcan Spaceport, and they know just where they want it.
“Just outside the town of Vulcan AB, lies the decommissioned Vulcan Aerodrome. As a former Royal Canadian Air Force base, this historic site provides a unique foundation upon which the entire project can be built … [T]he site will be expanded … and will become the permanent home to the production facilities required to construct the Enterprise, as well the spaceport required to service the mighty ship.”
If you believe in this ambitious project that Vulcan is embarking on, you can contribute. Even just $10 will get your name included on a permanent monument located at the future home of the Vulcan Super-Luminal Research Center.
For $10K, you will be invited to the warp-drive debut. For $500 million, they will name the Research Center in your honor. And for $1 billion, they will name the spaceport itself in your honor.
