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Re: Re: RE: Re: starship-design: The Way ahead & Bugs




In a message dated 10/15/98 7:21:29 AM, f96bni@student.tdb.uu.se wrote:

>> One factor I suggested long ago in the group was that our starships group
>> survey tems would be few in number, and subjected to intence quarenteen.
If
>> they arn't sure their clean, they don't get to come back to the ship.  If
the
>> ship can't convince earth they are clean, the decel microwave beam isn't
>> turned on.
>> 
>> Kelly
>> 
>
>Well personally I strongly prefer "one-way" missions, that would totaly
>eliminate any treat to earth. As for your other precautions they are
>generally sound...
>
>As for the one-way vs two-way issue please consider this:
>
>Let's say we have a starship that can get to one of the nearest stars in
>10-20 years, carrying a few 100's to a few 1000's of scientists and crew.
>(I think this is fairly typical for most of this groups proposals is it
>not?)
>
>Now if they should have life-suport and suplies for a round-trip they
>would need to have about 40-50 years worth to have a few years on station
>and some safety margin. Now the people that would go would likely be
>around 30 when they leave, given that most of them should probably be at
>least PhD's and also have a few years of specific training for the
>mission. Now this means that when it's time to go home most of them would
>be in their late 40's or early 50's. Now this would mean that the
>scientists and crew would have to chose between living most of their
>remaining lives aboard the ship during a tedious trip home OR they could
>live out the rest of their lives scouting and researching this facinating
>new star system... I know which one I'd chose...
>
>SO, EVEN IF WE DO MAKE THE SHIP RETURN CAPABLE, I DON'T THINK WE'D SEE IT
>AGAIN!!!

Assuming a 10-12 year trip time.  Your 30 year olds get their in their early
40's.  By late 40's they would be finishing up and ready to come home.
They'ld likely get home by the time they reach early '60's and spend a decade
or three pouring over their data and heading research projects into the data. 

In your senario they would be stuck in the starship for40-60 years.  Their
exploration gear expended, their ship systems runing down, and the
increasingly aged crew working harder and harder to keep runing the increasing
worn out ship systems.  Assuming the ship can functino that long, and the
declining suplies and crew can keep being stretched.  (Your talking about a
ship designd for a 30-40 year service life, being pushed to a 50-80 year
service life, and suplies stretched to twice their designed length.  Folks
could get very hungry.  And systems very short of spare parts.)

Kelly