RE: starship-design: Infrastructure in space [was: FTL travel...]

["L. Parker" <lparker@cacaphony.net>]

>
> 	Is not oil made by compression of large amounts of
> organic matter?

Well, scientists used to believe so, but recently it has been discovered
through spectroscopic analysis that chemical compounds remarkably similar to
good old crude abound in space. While it may still be true that oil on Earth
originated by compressing organic matter, there is now some speculation that
perhaps some of it was simply trapped here during planetary formation or
something.

I should think it would be relatively easy to prove through carbon dating,
but I haven't seen anything on it recently.

Lee