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Check this one. Seriously.

lol I was stumped trying to figure out who to forward the link to. The lack of my reply was my brain exploding.
 
Hi

The Enterprise of Star Trek fame is a great exercise in pure fantasy but utterly impractical as a design. If we (meaning the whole world because that's how much money it would take and decades to plan and build) were to decide to make a space ship I think the Discovery is a much more realistic model.

You'd need some serious separation between the crew and the engines (think kilometers due to intense radiation) which would almost certainly be some form of nuclear power with truly massive output. Add in literally tons, like very many tons, of fuel and supplies. Don't forget the counter-rotating disks for centripetal simulation of gravity without producing an unbalanced torque. Also add some big-time shielding from hard cosmic rays if you want your crew to arrive while they are still alive.

In my opinion we are generations away from such technology not to mention the management capability. The technologies necessary for such a project simply do not exist at this time. Certainly we are looking at massive construction in space requiring materials and personnel being sourced in space as well (asteroid mining and colonization). The expenses involved with creating even the smallest structures in space are truly mind-boggling (ie, the international space station).

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Discovery_One

I'd love to see it some day but doubt I'll live long enough. My great grandchildren probably won't either but I do hope we start anyway.

Andrew Lynch
 
Isn't that the one way ticket project? They're speculating to get volunteers to go there with no plan on returning (a follow-up plan I think was in the works but it's as of now mostly a one way stunt).
 
barythrin said:
Isn't that the one way ticket project? They're speculating to get volunteers to go there with no plan on returning (a follow-up plan I think was in the works but it's as of now mostly a one way stunt).
Click to expand...

I'd go in a heartbeat. I'm sure there are countless others.
 
What would be the point of building a colony on Mars? Earth's deserts, ocean floors, and even Antarctica are more hospitable to human life, and it doesn't take nearly as much time or energy to reach them.
 
Well, obviously we've trashed this planet and have given up hope for humanity here so we're looking for our next resource to pollute. The base would see if plants can survive and rebuild the atmosphere and return rain to the plane for a similar earth like experience.

Interestingly I have a plum tree that's the spawn of the space station plum experiment in a pot on my back porch. Very unfortunately it's been not doing well with the weather and I'm trying to figure out how to help but Texas and Mars offer similar rainfall.
 
I wish we would just limit our population growth here and wait for it to level out until its able to grow at a sustainable level...
Too many people, not enough resources. I think if they had an eco-friendly way to inhabit mars or make it more habitable ( could be discovered once we have people there! never know) its a great idea.
Im curious to know if they still had that far fetched idea about Cryogen. Freezing?
 
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