James Nicoll wrote:

In article ,
Hop David wrote:

James Nicoll wrote:


In article ,
Scott Lowther "scottlowtherAT ix DOT netcom DOT com" wrote:


John Savard wrote:



A spaceship going *to* the Kuiper Belt, or coming back from it,
certainly can rotate for artificial gravity.

Spaceships are largely short-term transportation systems, not permanent
homes.


A spaceship destined for the Kuiper doesn't seem likely to be short
term with any technology much below highly efficient [1] fusion. Take
MEDUSA: Vexhaust of perhaps 1000 km/s. Say we use a mass ratio of e^2 and
a total delta vee of 2,000 km: even with a high acceleration before
reaching the terminal velocity of 1,000 km/s (Because it would be nice
to slow down), you're looking at round trip times of at least seven
months, plus however long you want to stay to work. Voyage duration
comparable to the epic expeditions of the 1700s don't seem out of the
question.

I imagine the Main Belt, Trojans, Centaurs, and moons of the gas giants
will be colonized before we start sending people to the Kuiper Belt.


While I have an irrational interest in Saturn and Neptune,
I expect Jupiter's system will turn out to be the most useful site to
exploit, if we exploit space. While most of the resources of Jupiter
aren't easily accessable due to its escape velocity, the moons are
nicely various and both Jupiter's mass and its planetary magnetic field
are potentially useful resources.

Ah. You like to exploit the Oberth effect. A man after my own heart.

I seem to recall Manx' daughter using one of Jupiter's moons and the
strong Jupiter magnetic field to generate a ridiculous amount of power.
(Manx is a character appearing in a good number of Charlie Stross stories).


In fact, if you can use Jupiter, access to the rest of the
Solar System can become easier.

I believe you are correct.

Hop