NASA and DARPA Plan 'Hundred-Year Starship' To Bring Humans to Other Worlds And Leave Them There For

Interesting article but its a bit muddled to be honest. It starts out talking about a 100 year starship and then morphs into talking about long term settlement of Mars.

The connection between the two is tenuous.

Regarding the 1st. - I struggle to see what this hopes to accomplish. We are so far away from being able to do it its a gross waste of funds. I smell job creation scheme. The money would be better spent on something more useful in the short to medium term.

Regarding the 2nd - Wholeheartedly support the colonisation of Mars. It provides some redundancy for the species. Its a sensible achievable milestone and it will help build the technology base we will be needing to venture further afield.

I recommend reading 'The Case for Mars' by Robert Zubrin.

Gliese 581D



Atmosphere

Although 581 D is outside the theorized habitable zone, it's atmosphere has created a greenhouse effect, resulting in temperatures that allowed the planet to sustain life, as recently discovered on March 9th, 2009. The planet's surface temperature at it's hottest point is -5 degrees fahrenheit, so far though changing seasons may make it warmer or colder, this is yet to be determined. The atmosphere is made up of gases similar to Earth, 84% nitrogen, 13% oxygen, 2% carbon dioxide and 1% other gases, compared to Earth's 78% nitrogen, 21% oxygen and 1% other gases. Not much of the planet's surface has been explored, so what generates 581 D's oxygen is yet unknown.

Colonization

On February 22, 2009, the Union of Everett space craft Liberty arrived at Gliese 581 D after first visiting 581 C. Three satellites were deployed into 581 C's orbit and droids sent to the surface and seven satellites were deployed into 581 D's orbit. Five rovers and ten HADv2 droids were sent to the surface of 581 D. Atmosphere samples and tests were taken as well as water, ice and dirt samples. After finding that Gliese 581 D has an atmosphere that can sustain human life, the Liberty entered the atmosphere and began the construction of the Gliese Base 1A. The first sections of the base were constructed, laboratories, living areas, water desalination and treatment plant, fusion reactor power plant, three humvees and 50 crew were deployed to live at the new base. The Liberty left on February 25th to gain more supplies and crew. Upon return on March 5th, Gliese Base 1A was completed, adding more laboratories, living areas, a harbor, a Bradley M6 Linebacker tank, a military submarine fitted for scientific research and two 797 Sonic Cruisers fitted for scientific research. 75 more crew were added to the base. Again, Liberty left, leaving Everett's AC-0002 space craft, Vigilance, set to return March 31st for food and supply delivery.

conworld.wikia.com...

Stupid link bug just add the http conworld.wikia.com/wiki/Gliese_581_D_(EV)


Way to Go Hu-Man race ... lets just toss reality into the trash bin and confuddle everyone...

100 year space ship sounds alot like a generational ship a ship that starts out with a crew and as it travels that crew has children that they train to replace them as they get to old to carry on or die off.. at our current level of technology i don't see how we could build a ship like this because we know long term exposure to outerspace poses serious health concerns on the body especially from lack of gravity. who knows what effects that would have on a developing fetus. until we can find an adequate way to create gravity i don't see how this could work . i do believe that the distance between earth and mars would allow us to get there quick enough to avoid long term damage . and i think that a colony on mars would be a good idea. now if we ever develop a way to make gravity then i seea generation ship being used to traverse interstellar distances but if we could get a ship to say 50 percent light speed it could still take a hundred years to get to a system that has a possibility of supporting life.

A ship to Mar isn't a Starship. It is an intrasystem ship.

A STAR ship would be for ships that travel from one system to another.

Originally posted by TrueBrit
It takes guts and determination to sculpt a future with your progeny as the scalpel...
...As for the second problem, really ? You went there? REALLY ?

I totally agree with your post, and in all seriousness I could work for the goal for the future generation.
By the way, (the first snip I quoted) very eloquent way of putting it! Earned you a friend slot!

And yes...I did go there!

Originally posted by Mr Mask
First off, you didn't even reserve a seat in this thread! I'm shocked...

Why would I need to reserve a seat on this slow boat to Sirius? My team should have our little sport model ready in a few years

Secondly...what if they put a billion people on a big space-boat and then "accidently" hit a big space-iceberg?

I am sure there are cheaper ways to lose a billion humans, if that was their goal.

Or you could sign up with the NAVY and get a billet on one of their space cruisers

Originally posted by FTL_Navigator

Greetings Zorgon,

All I can say is that what you say can be unofficially confirmed

Seen the job requirements, would satisfy any serious human that can think outside the box. Better the applicants have no family or kids as the requirements mean being "away from home" for extended periods of time.

happy hunting

HADES

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


Sign me up next stop Pandora. do we get AVATARS...LOL

Originally posted by Aeons
A STAR ship would be for ships that travel from one system to another.

Well it doesn't take us 100 years to get to Mars

reply to post by zorgon


I would go. It's not like I got anything to keep me around other than family and a job.

Of course, it would be difficult to leave behind everything I know but I'm all for taking risks. Sometimes, you can't have rewards without risks.

reply to post by zorgon


Where did you get this information? Is it top secret or something?

One word; "NECROMORPHS!" I'm playing Dead Space right now and I'm TERRIFIED of ever going to space!

I'll send a note instead with a friendly "Hello, neighbor!"

Originally posted by jexmo
Sign me up, i'll go and never come back

Same here, i would sign up like yesterday, to get away from people on this planet.

Good for those who would go, shame i could not.

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


I think we should send all our Leaders to VENUS and the rest of us to Mars. Seriously, think how many people we could feed with that kind of money. People....WE are their SLAVES!!!

I won't be the first one to sign up for this program, but one hell of an idea.

Originally posted by SpartanKingLeonidas

NASA and DARPA Plan 'Hundred-Year Starship' To Bring Humans to Other Worlds And Leave Them There Forever

www.popsci.com

If NASA ever gets a clear directive for interplanetary exploration, a new Hundred-Year Starship could be their version of the Mayflower.

And like the first pilgrims, Martian explorers might set sail with the knowledge they would never return home.

NASA and DARPA have joined forces to build something called a Hundred-Year Starship, according to the director of NASA’s Ames Research Center.

Simon “Pete” Worden said NASA contributed $100,000 to the project and DARPA kicked in $1 million.

(visit the link for the full news article)

Wow !
$100K
and
$1 M
That's enough to build a 100 year toilet and 1 sink

Will the air force throw in $50 bucks and an scooby doo pez dispenser to round out the project???

Originally posted by blamethegreys
I'll stay behind, thanks. There's just a couple itty bitty problems with the whole premise:

PROBLEM UNO: The adults on the ship are just a resource, your kids, or perhaps their kids, might see the destination, but certainly not you. You're there to run the ship, make a couple babies, teach the babies to run the ship, then....

PROBLEM DOS: Soylent Green. Need I say more?

And this is different from living on Earth, how exactly?

Fifteenth line.

I just skimmed through the article but I will ask the question: Do you really think us "ordinary" people would be allowed to travel on this ship? In my opinion it would be reserved for the elites and TPTB. Did I miss something saying that this would be for ordinary or the general public?... I HIGHLY doubt it.

I mean seriously do you really think the elite would allow us, the general public, to be part of such a great advancement? In my opinion it will be a way for the elite to escape and leave us all here to deal with the ensuing problems on earth.

Of course if they ARE allowing just anyone to sign up and take this exploration I'm all for it; I just don't think it will happen.

One love.

reply to post by SpartanKingLeonidas


lol, did you really just post a Hoobastank song?

Also, why the hell would anyone want to leave this planet? Ok, sure being on another planet would be pretty cool and all, but I'm kinda happy with my ability to be able to breathe fresh air. Good luck doing that on Mars.

A million bucks ain't gonna do it. I think its just a cover, i'm willing to bet we already have technology to get us to distant stars a lot quicker. Nearly instantly in historical terms we began looking for worlds far far away, I doubt the motivation would be equal if we didn't already have a way to get there. In addition, I can't see NASA shutting down its shuttle program unless it had something better, no way would they let other nations take the lead on the future. Statements made by former Lockheed employees, as well as other sources have me nearly convinced we are far more advanced then some would have us believe.