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[amused]

You could spend your remaining time building a really awesome Facebook page.

Shoot me into space, plz.

[mistermack]

People go for ages in nuclear submarines. And in the space station.
The problem is gravity if you want to go to other stars. You would HAVE to have spinning vessels, with artificial gravity. And that would make the whole thing pretty big.

I suppose what you could have is a two-part ship, with two sections rotating about a connecting cable. Otherwise the ship would have to be gigantic.

Even Mars would have a gravity problem. It takes a long time in zero gravity to get there, and when you do, the gravity is only one third of what we evolved to need.

I still think the Moon is the one to concentrate on. You can get home in no time, and we can learn everything about survival in space there. Get it right on the Moon, and Mars would be pretty easy.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

MM, do they raise kids in the subs, or the ISS, while knowing those kids will never leave the sub or the ISS?

[mistermack]

MM, do they raise kids in the subs, or the ISS, while knowing those kids will never leave the sub or the ISS?

Yes they do. But they wouldn't tell YOU, would they? You'd tell everyone.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

MM, do they raise kids in the subs, or the ISS, while knowing those kids will never leave the sub or the ISS?

Yes they do. But they wouldn't tell YOU, would they? You'd tell everyone.

As the sub crews are still all male I can understand why they keep it quiet.

[mistermack]

MM, do they raise kids in the subs, or the ISS, while knowing those kids will never leave the sub or the ISS?

Yes they do. But they wouldn't tell YOU, would they? You'd tell everyone.

As the sub crews are still all male I can understand why they keep it quiet.

Don't ask, don't tell.

[Blind groper]

I somehow don't think manned missions will extend beyond this little solar system's inner planets in my lifetime.

Or the next six lifetimes after that.

[mistermack]

I somehow don't think manned missions will extend beyond this little solar system's inner planets in my lifetime.

Or the next six lifetimes after that.

I know what you mean, that even the solar system involves huge distances, and stars are just incredible distances away. BUT,

six lifetimes is a long time, and getting longer all the time.
And, nuclear propulsion is likely to be a viable option long before six lifetimes have come and gone.
The speeds available will dwarf what we can manage now. So I wouldn't write it off so easily.

Look what science has managed in the last 100 years, the next 500 are totally unpredictable.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You never know. If the First Empire hadn't developed the Alderson Drive we'd probably have killed ourselves off before we got anywhere.

[mistermack]

You never know. If the First Empire hadn't developed the Alderson Drive we'd probably have killed ourselves off before we got anywhere.

There was a perfectly genuine project designed called project Orion that was reckoned to be perfectly practical, even with technology from fifty years ago. The main objection was fallout pollution.
But if it could be launched from space, that wouldn't apply. You would just have to get it up there to start with.
The projected speeds were phenomenal though, like Mars and back in a week or less.

[Blind groper]

The Orion Project had, as its main virtue, an easy way of getting into space. Once clear of the Earth's gravity well, travel becomes a hell of a lot easier. The logical approach is not Orion, but an ion drive engine. They are being designed and tested right now. If we assume a couple hundred years of development of these engines, and the development of practical nuclear fusion as an energy source, then slow acceleration to very high velocities becomes practical.

The biggest problem has always been getting above the 100 km mark. The best way of doing that, in theory, is with a space elevator. Within 200 years, that may well be in place and delivering incredible tonnages and numbers of people into space.

We need to remember, though, that our solar system is a hell of a big place, and will occupy our attentions for a long time to come. In addition, even the closest other star is over 4 light years away. Even at enormous velocities, it would take a generation ship. I don't think we can hold our breath waiting for an Alderson Drive, or similar.

[Gawdzilla Sama]

You never know. If the First Empire hadn't developed the Alderson Drive we'd probably have killed ourselves off before we got anywhere.

There was a perfectly genuine project designed called project Orion that was reckoned to be perfectly practical, even with technology from fifty years ago. The main objection was fallout pollution.
But if it could be launched from space, that wouldn't apply. You would just have to get it up there to start with.
The projected speeds were phenomenal though, like Mars and back in a week or less.

But Alderson, despite having bad effects on humans and worse effects on Moties, is an interstellar drive, so once you find the jump points, you're good to go.