Sedna, space probes?, colonies? what's next?

(TKalbfus) wrote in message ...
I find it interesting that Sedna was discovered near its closest point in its
10,500 year orbit around the Sun. What are the chances of that happening? If
you only consider the planet Sedna, the chances of discovering it while it is
near is closest point to the Sun are very small. Sedna spends most of its time
further away, this leads to the question how many other "Sedna's" are there?
What if we looked for a 10th planet 1000 years ago with the same technology we
have today? Would we find another Sedna-like planet nearing its closest point
to the sun. Sedna will spend 150 closer to the Sun than from where we
discovered it. statistically this leaves room for about 60 planets in 10,000
year orbits around the sun. all those planets are potential colonies for future
colonists. The ones further away will be harder to find, but I'm sure we can
eventually discover them.

We haven't even colonized the moon outside of sci-fi so it's a bit
premature to view Sedna as some kind of development property
Probably will be visited by robot probes within 30 years.

-McDaniel

"Hobbs aka McDaniel" a écrit dans le message de
om...
(TKalbfus) wrote in message
...

We haven't even colonized the moon outside of sci-fi so it's a bit
premature to view Sedna as some kind of development property

Besides, who would like to live in perpetual
darkness?

I mean from there the sun is just a slightly brighter
star.

Probably we will make homes in space, and I bet most of
the construction industry will be space based by the end
of this century. All around the earth orbit there is a lot
of real-estate. Millions of cubic Km of place where we
can grow plants, and live from the food that we grow from
the sun. Weather is exactly like the earth since the
orbit is more or less the same.

But there?

In perpetual darkness forever?

Doesn't look like a very exciting place to build a home.

In article ,
"jacob navia" wrote:

"Hobbs aka McDaniel" a écrit dans le message de
om...
(TKalbfus) wrote in message
...

We haven't even colonized the moon outside of sci-fi so it's a bit
premature to view Sedna as some kind of development property

Besides, who would like to live in perpetual
darkness?

People with a mastery of artificial lighting, I suppose.

I mean from there the sun is just a slightly brighter
star.

So? Where I am at the moment, the Sun isn't even as bright as a visible
star; in fact it's clear around on the other side of a rather large
rocky planet. Yet I still manage to waste time in Usenet.

Probably we will make homes in space, and I bet most of
the construction industry will be space based by the end
of this century. All around the earth orbit there is a lot
of real-estate. Millions of cubic Km of place where we
can grow plants, and live from the food that we grow from
the sun.

All true, but you can grow food perfectly well under artificial lights
too. (Even if we assume that people colonizing the Kuiper belt still
have need of food, which seems unlikely.)

Weather is exactly like the earth since the
orbit is more or less the same.

Weather in a space colony has nothing to do with its orbit.

But there?

In perpetual darkness forever?

Doesn't look like a very exciting place to build a home.

Well, don't then. There are billions of people already, with wildly
varying opinions on things. I, for example, would be perfectly content
there, given a secure supply of energy and raw materials (and technology
sufficiently advanced to make use of it).

Best,
- Joe

,------------------------------------------------------------------.
| Joseph J. Strout Check out the Mac Web Directory: |
| http://www.macwebdir.com |
`------------------------------------------------------------------'

We haven't even colonized the moon outside of sci-fi so it's a bit
premature to view Sedna as some kind of development property
Probably will be visited by robot probes within 30 years.

I'd bet it's sooner than that. The New Horizons mission that's scheduled to
blast off for Pluto in 2006 is also designed to visit Kuiper belt objects.
Depending on where Sedna is, it would seem like this would be a logical next
stop on this long mission.

On Tue, 17 Mar 2004, ARNOLDEVNS wrote:

We haven't even colonized the moon outside of sci-fi so it's a bit
premature to view Sedna as some kind of development property
Probably will be visited by robot probes within 30 years.

I'd bet it's sooner than that. The New Horizons mission that's scheduled to
blast off for Pluto in 2006 is also designed to visit Kuiper belt objects.
Depending on where Sedna is, it would seem like this would be a logical next
stop on this long mission.

No way, according to James Osberg,
Sedna and Pluto are in opposition,
ie opposite sides of the solar system.

No way, according to James Osberg,
Sedna and Pluto are in opposition,
ie opposite sides of the solar system.


Rats. I was not aware of where the two were in their orbits. Thanks for the
info.

Hobbs aka McDaniel wrote:
(TKalbfus) wrote in message ...
I find it interesting that Sedna was discovered near its closest point in its
10,500 year orbit around the Sun. What are the chances of that happening? If
you only consider the planet Sedna, the chances of discovering it while it is
near is closest point to the Sun are very small. Sedna spends most of its time
further away, this leads to the question how many other "Sedna's" are there?
What if we looked for a 10th planet 1000 years ago with the same technology we
have today? Would we find another Sedna-like planet nearing its closest point
to the sun. Sedna will spend 150 closer to the Sun than from where we
discovered it. statistically this leaves room for about 60 planets in 10,000
year orbits around the sun. all those planets are potential colonies for future
colonists. The ones further away will be harder to find, but I'm sure we can
eventually discover them.

We haven't even colonized the moon outside of sci-fi so it's a bit
premature to view Sedna as some kind of development property
Probably will be visited by robot probes within 30 years.

I find this slightly unlikely. 'We'[1] have a terribly bad track history
with deep space probes. I think things have gone very well if there is
a dedicated projec to track and discover Oort cloud objects in teh next
30 years, but sending a probe is IMHO being slightly too optimistic.


-McDaniel

--
Sander

+++ Out of cheese error +++