Re: starship-design: One way (again...)

[kuo@bit.csc.lsu.edu (Isaac Kuo)]

KellySt@aol.com wrote:
>In a message dated 12/3/97 7:23:07 AM, zkulpa@zmit1.ippt.gov.pl wrote:
>>> From: kuo@bit.csc.lsu.edu (Isaac Kuo)
 
>>> I disagree.  If I were offered the chance to fly on a 1 way mission
>>> to the Alpha Centauri systems at .2c (where I'd then spend the rest
>>> of my life), I for one would jump at it. I'm sure there are many
>>> others who'd be just as excited to do so.

>>Hey, Isaac, I was one of the first on the list, quite a time ago, 
>>to be excited to go.

>As an asside it would be far cheaper to do a two way mission then a quicker
>one way mission, since you'ld to launch a couple orders of magnitude less
>stuff to build a sustainable colony....

>Opps forget, you were happy with a one way suicide mission.  (I.E. no return,
>no sustainable colony/life support, and the folks back home get to bet on the
>ship or crew dieing first on internation TV.)  

It's not a suicide mission.  Suicide is purposefully dying prematurely.
With a couple hundred years of life support supplies, there's no
inherent reason why the crew would die prematurely.

As for 2-way vs. 1-way, I gave as an example a .2c cruise speed.
A 2-way mission at .1c would take at least 80 years to get there
and back!  With current human lifespans, that sounds to me a
hell of a lot worse than going one way in 20 years and then spending
the next half century or so basking in the warmth of alien suns.

>I can't imagine why I thought it would never be aproved.  ;)

>OH, did you know that Idea was poroposed for Mars exploration at the 'Case
>for Mars' conference last year?

No.
-- 
    _____     Isaac Kuo kuo@bit.csc.lsu.edu http://www.csc.lsu.edu/~kuo
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