Project Hyperion explores the feasibility of interstellar travel with a crew using current and near-future technologies, focusing on the concept of a generation ship. A generation ship is a hypothetical spacecraft designed for long-duration interstellar missions that could take centuries to complete. The idea is that the original crew lives, reproduces, and dies aboard the ship, with their descendants continuing the mission to reach a distant habitable planet.

These ships are envisioned as self-sustaining ecosystems containing agriculture, housing, and life-support systems capable of supporting multiple generations of humans.

The Initiative for Interstellar Studies (i4is) announced the winners of the Project Hyperion Design Competition, a historic global challenge that invited interdisciplinary teams to envision a generation ship capable of a 250-year journey with a human crew to a habitable exoplanet.

Teams participating in the competition designed spacecraft capable of sustaining and nurturing a society in an extremely resource-limited space environment. The first-place award went to Project Hyperion, which impressed judges with its innovative and practical design approach toward long-term human spaceflight and survival.