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RE: starship-design: Numbers needed for Colonization (was Antiproton-Catalyzed Propulsion System)



Bjorn,

>
> First: Trade of information is certanly feasible! Trade of Physical
> products may also be posible given that their Value is VERY
> high compared
> to their mass... (Prototypes, biological/chemical samples etc...)

I'm not sure how you are going to manage the credit transfer for information
trade. I guess it would have to be more of a barter system. Given the high
cost of transport, I really don't see ANY cargo being valuable enough to
transport back, maybe if the ship is going back anyway, but that is strictly
a one time trade mission.
> 3) Unless the "light-barrier" can somehow be broken, it would
> be neccesary
> to "Planet-hop" to get to further systems... That would mean that the
> colony SHOULD be able to send out it's OWN colonizts in the forseeable
> future... (a few Centurys, MAX!!!)

Well, this is pretty much a given. In fact under the plan I foresee, it
wouldn't necessarily take even that long. If the first infrastructure to go
in is space borne mining and manufacturing, then the original ships could
simply be refurbished over a period of fifty years or so and be ready to
send out all over again. I had kind of expected that this would be thew case
for a return trip as well. The explorers would put in place the beginnings
of an orbital infrastructure focusing on the things needed to refurbish and
refuel the ship first so that it could return to Earth as soon as possible.

> Time-scales:
> To most Humans, even a Century is gona seem a VERY long time
> even quite
> far into the future... Just look at the excitement about the upcoming
> Milenium shift and I think that most will agree that projects
> that take
> 1000s of years will NOT be feasible from a socio-economic POV.
> IMHO if something doesn't at least START to give results in a century,
> forget IT...

Well, what you don't tell them won't hurt them...Actually, all that is
necessary (or possible) is to put in place a series of five, ten, twenty and
fifty year plans. The rest will take care of itself. It is not a big deal if
one particular colony fails to continue sending out ships, some other colony
will.

> Population Growth:
> As someone pointed out, most industialized countries have
> trouble keeping
> their population CONSTANT, never mind increasing it... Personally I'd
> think that the Knowledge of how having lots of kids is a
> NECCESITY for the
> colony will help somewhat. This is still one of the BIGGEST problems
> Though.

In a frontier economy, even a technological one, children are wealth. A
family with more children can produce more, occupy more land, etc. This is a
somewhat naive and simplified view, the actuality is more complex, but like
the above argument, I think it will take care of itself. The biggest problem
may actually be providing sufficient infrastructure to support such
population growth.

Lee