1)ASAP = As Soon As Possible
2)Inferno releases chapter 1 of their campaign, then decided to scrap it and re-do it entirely. The new one isn't released yet. Original Chapter 1 (R1) was created for Retail, but a patch was created for it to play under SCP, but that became outdated. A guy named Shadow0000 has fixed this on his own, and improved the effects considerably. You can find his stuff in the Inferno forums.
3) To join, have skills and volunteer them to a project that interests you. To start your own team, get talented individuals interested in your project, enough to help.
4) Ross 128 was not heavily populated, but it posessed a decent presence there, considering its proximity to Delta Serpentis. Ikeya was considerably less populated, which is not surprising considering its distance from the core systems and the front lines of the T-V War. You may want to play FS1 by using the Freespace Port.