Re: Interstellar Propulsion idea using an Asteroid and a few comets!

From: Brian Tung (brian_at_isi.edu)
Date: 08/24/04 

Date: Tue, 24 Aug 2004 22:05:36 +0000 (UTC)

Rob Dekker wrote:
> Also, 30,000 years is a very long time. 30,000 years ago my forefathers
> where pushing bolders around with wooden sticks, and hunting animals
> with simple spears.

Hey, yours too? :)

> There is a good chance that better and faster ships will catch-up with
> a slower previously launched one.
>
> So until we are sure that technology development will NOT catch up with
> an interstellar space ship, there is not much reason to launch one.

Good point. Frankly, I don't think it makes much sense to launch such
a spaceship until the travel time to the nearest stars is on the order
of a few decades at the most. That requires a velocity of perhaps a
quarter of the speed of light--unless there are a couple of brown dwarfs
lurking nearer than Proxima Centauri.

Brian Tung <brian@isi.edu>
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