starship-design: Lalande 21185

[kyle <stk@sunherald.infi.net>]

Greetings all:

I don't know if we should send a mission to L21185, for several reasons.

1: We don't know if there are terrestrial planets in the system.
2: We have a (hypothetical) system ready for exploration.
3: Small M class stars like L21185 would not have habitable planets in
their systems. The reasons? The planet would need to be so close to the
star for sufficient heating that it would become tidally locked, and
would be subjected to severe stresses. Tidally locked planets would be
superheated on one side, and supercooled on the other side. And the
stresses would likely cause severe storms, and earthquakes, not to
mention the volcanic activity. Besides, the CHZ is VERY narrow.

In my view, sending a mission to L21185 is a waste of resources. And
another question: do we really want to wait about 13,000 years before
leaving the solar system? I think not.

Kyle Mcallister