Re: starship-design: Local Gas Density

[KellySt@aol.com]

In a message dated 2/19/01 1:04:02 AM, bugzappr@bellsouth.net writes:

>More recently, Markus Landgraf et al. of ESA, working with the Ulysses
>probe
>
>which has been orbiting out of the ecliptic for 8 years, confirm the
>
>presence of a gas and dust cloud. 'The best match, they found, was with
>a
>
>mixture of silicates detected in interstellar clouds elsewhere in the Milky
>
>Way, suggesting that we are moving through an identical cloud. "We were
>very
>
>excited when we found that the composition fits," says Landgraf. The notion
>
>that we are travelling through an interstellar cloud is not new. First
>a
>
>cloud of gas was discovered moving through the solar system. Then by 1995,
>
>Ulysses had detected enough galactic dust grains to see that they travel
>
>through the solar system in the same direction as the gas, suggesting that
>
>the cloud consists of dust as well as gas.'
>
>http://www.spacedaily.com/news/stardust-99h.html
>
>
>
>Whether or not a "recent" supernova cleaned out the gas in our area, we
>
>stumbled into a cloud very recently. It's too soon to dismiss ram scoops;
>
>first let's get some hard info on what's really there. If we're in a cloud,
>
>rams will work.
>
>
>
>Johnny Thunderbird

In a cloud of dust and silicates?