Re: starship-design: FTL travel

[Ben Franchuk <bfranchuk@jetnet.ab.ca>]

> 
> We have NO space-based manufacturing infrastructure at all. It will require
> a substantial presence in Earth orbit, solar orbit, lunar orbit, etc. to
> build any large interstellar vessel. It takes time to build such an
> infrastructure and TRILLIONS of dollars. Which means that there has to be
> some other, profit-based motivation capable of supporting such a large
> industrial base. As we have just seen, interstellar travel will not provide
> such a motive.

Well now is the time to design and dream about the infrastructure,
because once investment is done, that will freeze development along
one path and that may not be the way to go. ( this includes investment
that bypasses space for other quicker get rich ideas ).
 
> Now let us talk about something that WILL provide a profit motive.
> Knowledge. If we were to discover not just an inhabitable planet, but an
> inhabited planet. Even if it wasn't as technically advanced as we, the
> cross-referencing of knowledge alone could be worth far more than anyone
> could imagine. An obscure drug to cure cancer, a better understanding of the
> process of life that leads to anti-aging treatments, a new chemical process
> that allows the creation of better computers. Who knows, the list is
> endless.

That is a very good point.
> 
> Even though these are all speculative profits, corporations do understand
> them and routinely base their planning and spending upon them. To sum it up,
> government spending will get us to the stars, commercial motives will keep
> us there. There will likely be a definite ordered progression in the
> process.
>
Well lets get the ball rolling...
 
> Lee

-- 
"We do not inherit our time on this planet from our parents...
 We borrow it from our children."
The Lagging edge of technology:
http://www.jetnet.ab.ca/users/bfranchuk/woodelf/index.html