op-ed grist for the mill from the NYT

http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/op...pagewanted=all

rick jones
--
firebug n, the idiot who tosses a lit cigarette out his car window
these opinions are mine, all mine; HP might not want them anyway...
feel free to post, OR email to rick.jones2 in hp.com but NOT BOTH...

Rick Jones wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/op...pagewanted=all

Not sure where the grist is. I actually agree with most of it - he
acknowledges that human space exploration will be limited to our solar
system for the foreseeable future, that human interstellar flight is
really hard and won't be possible for centuries, and that unmanned
interstellar flight can be made more entertaining for the folks back
home by use of telepresence. He's not arguing against human exploration
of the solar system. I'm puzzling over what his actual point is since so
much of it seems like a tautology. Perhaps he's just looking to tweak
Star Trek fans during the lead-up to the release of the reboot movie.

My only beefs with the piece a

1) He argues for development of nuclear rockets to launch robotic
interstellar probes sooner rather than later. I see that as a
misallocation of resources that could be better used for near-term goals
such as human exploration of the inner solar system and robotic
exploration of the rest.

2) "And while today’s launching vehicles are more powerful than their
predecessors, the speeds are hardly impressive. The New Horizons probe
cleared the pad at a clip barely twice that of the Atlas rocket that
hoisted John Glenn into orbit at the dawn of the space age." Wow. What a
breathtakingly asinine statement. I think that "time to clear the pad"
is quite possibly the stupidest figure-of-merit for comparing rocket
performance I have ever heard. It has nothing whatsoever to do with the
ultimate speed that the rocket is capable of propelling its payload and
everything to do with the initial T/W ratio of the rocket.

Rick Jones wrote:
http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/op...pagewanted=all

rick jones


This is a job for my Vegetative Starship.
From back in 2002:

"I hereby nominate my idea- The "Vegetative Starship": a truly wonderful
device that puts starflight within our reach even today- as any good
medieval herbalist knows, each species of plant has a affinity for a
certain star, whose influence draws it's sprout forth from the soil
after it germinates... this is a small, but very real, force,- which
like an ion engine can generate a great deal of velocity over a period
of time- the Vegetative Starship resembles one of the greenhouse domes
off of the "Valley Forge" of "Silent Running" fame. It is assembled in
GEO, and it's crew of carefully selected award-winning
gardener/scientists put onboard... then the planting of the correct type
of plant for the target star ensues -the domed top section of the ship
is aimed toward the destination, and the seeds begin to feel the
influence of the distant target sun- but as they try to draw themselves
toward it with their sprouting, their roots are locked squarely into a
artificial soil matrix screen, and they begin to slowly pull the whole
ship along with themselves as they are drawn starward- bit by bit the
speed increases as the plants continue to grow (if in a somewhat stunted
state, due to the acceleration of their garden environment) and after
two or three generations have been planted, the ship is moving at a good
fraction of lightspeed- now the plants are harvested for the last time,
and another species sown, which has an affinity toward a star at the
antipodes of the celestial sphere, thereby braking the starship's
velocity and allowing it to enter orbit around it's destination... other
species of plants can be planted in small amounts to serve as a
maneuvering system for the ship changing it's attitude and modifying
it's trajectory as they are moved around in it's interior and are
attracted to their kindred stars.
But one of the real advantages of this type of starship is that it's
self homing; pick the correct species of plant, kick back, and let
mother nature do all the work....no fuss, no muss.... and no annoying,
almost weekly, imminent breach of the matter/antimatter containment
field! ...and, with a little forethought and careful choice of
destination stars, edible species of plant can be used, and sustain the
crew with their harvesting and oxygen producing ability. "Ad Astra Per
Asparagus" may well be the motto of these harvesters of the heavens;
these gardeners of the galaxies; these sower's to the stars!
But we must ask ourselves...is there anything wrong with this idea? Is
it perhaps unworkable? I need only point out one staggering argument in
it's favor- I mean of course- that Great Enigma; That Mysterious
Manuscript; That WONDER Of WONDERS..... THE VOYNICH MANUSCRIPT! LOOK AT
THIS, YOU DOUBTING SWINE!!!!!!!!!*
http://www.crystalinks.com/voynich.html
An entire book of star charts, written in a language no one has ever
been able to decipher, with loads of pictures of plants no one has ever
seen on Earth.....and, as a special bonus, and incentive to make you
look at the site above...PICTURES OF NAKED LADIES ALSO!
Naked Ladies that were probably being lusted after by some priaptic
aliens in a Vegetative Starship when they dropped by our Solar System
round about 1400 or so, sick and tired of having eaten Sunflower Seeds
for twenty odd years (One of the few plants that IS recognizable in the
manuscript is the Sunflower; now revealed to be a Triffid-like
contaminant upon our blessed Earth, and most aptly named; for this was
the fuel that brought these adventurous Botonauts to our planet- you
will note that there is no mention of the Sunflower plant in the
Holy-Bible-Book, sure proof that it didn't exist on Earth until it was
brought here!)- they got drunk, got laid, and lost one of their tech
manuals, as they puked their hung over way back into the sky....
ready to eat grass for the next twenty years, on their way to the star
Aldebaran....in Taurus the Bull.

Pat Flannery

* Use of "slowly Building FRENZY" writing style is licensed by "The
Flanco School Of CRAZED WRITING!!!", and unauthorized use is forbidden,
under penalty Of Violent Dismemberment BY NONCORPOREAL BEINGS!!!!"


Pat