Re: First Ark to Alpha Centauri

From: George Dishman (george_at_briar.demon.co.uk)
Date: 11/20/04 

Date: Sat, 20 Nov 2004 09:45:38 -0000

"Alfred A. Aburto Jr." <aburto@sbcglobal.net> wrote in message
news:419E0617.3030309@sbcglobal.net...
> >AA Institute wrote:
>> Since this has a decent level of "Astro" content... I thought it may
>> make a slight 'thought' contribution (albeit fictionally) to this
>> group:-
>>
>> http://uk.geocities.com/aa_spaceagent/firstarktoalphacentauri.html
>>
>> Enjoy...
>>
>> Abdul Ahad
>
> It's either that Abdul, or we'll have robot craft leaving "Star Gates" on
> every world :-)

  "On a voyage spanning 50,000 years ..."

Materials have been announced with an areal density of ~3gm/m^2
which can withstand 2500C.

http://www.space.com/businesstechnology/technology/carbonsail_000302.html

Caption: "At 3 grams per square meter, the fiber is 25 times
lighter than standard copier paper. (Credit: ELSI)"

Find a way to put a reflective coating on that able to withstand
the temperature and you can get to Alpha in less than 3,500 years:

http://www.inspacepropulsion.com/tech/sails.html

We have the human genome so put it on a DVD and reconstruct people
at the other end. No, we don't have that technology yet, but we
have 3,500 years to develop it if the probe phones home for the
plans when it arrives, and it's likely we will be able to launch
this century.

My colonists will be there 46,500 years before yours ;-)

George

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