Why Colonize Space?

In sci.physics Sean O'Hara wrote:
In the Year of the Earth Ox, the Great and Powerful
declared:
In sci.physics "Giga" "Giga" just(removetheseandaddmatthe wrote:
"Greg Goss" wrote in message
...

They laughed at Columbus because they knew that the water tanks and
food supplies on his ship could never let him reach Japan. And you
know what? The intellectuals were right about that.

But ships very often stopped somewhere, like a small island, to resupply
such things.

And what islands might that be?


If we assume as a point of departure that the Americas are
submerged, say one kilometer, there'd be a huge archipelago
consisting of the Andes, Rockies, Sierra Nevadas, etc, and a smaller
one for the Appalachians. Columbus still could've landed on
Hispanola, though it would've been a small island chain.

In that scenario, you are less than half way to Japan.

Absent a good map, the odds of stumbling upon one of the few islands
on the way to Japan is near zero.

--
Jim Pennino

Remove .spam.sux to reply.

In article , Quadibloc writes:
On Jul 29, 1:30=A0pm, wrote:
In sci.physics Greg Goss wrote:

One of the Niven/Pournelle books has the first interstellar colony
paid for by the National Geographic Society.

With a total income (not profit, income) in 2008 of $650 million, they
couldn't afford to send a house cat into LEO.

This is true. But I remember purchasing at a remainder counter a book
by someone who proposed colonizing space with setting up a magazine,
similar to the National Geographic, as his first step to raise money
for the venture!

Apparently Savage doesn't realize the key to making a small fortune
in publishing.

--
Michael F. Stemper
#include Standard_Disclaimer
Life's too important to take seriously.

Wayne Throop wrote:
No. It wouldn't. Because it wouldn't be a
"massless thing with an engine". Because your requirements,
namely "massless thing" and "with an engine", are mutually contradictory.
And of course because all "massless things" move at exactly lightspeed.


Except the starship Enterprise, which uses its warp field to turn it
into a massless thing with an engine.
Transparent aluminum...aye, laddie, that be the ticket:
http://dvice.com/archives/2009/07/scientists-crea.php

Pat


Pat

On Jul 30, 11:35 am, (Michael Stemper)
wrote:

Apparently Savage doesn't realize the key to making a small fortune
in publishing.


Start with a large fortune?

William December Starr wrote:

Whatever _did_ happen to all those manganese nodules that were just
lying there on the ocean floor waiting to be vacuumed up, anyway?



They are still down there, it's just that no one has figured out a way
to economically dredge them up that's cheaper than making magnesium by
extracting it from seawater.
Diamonds, on the other hand:
http://www.miningweekly.com/article/...ime-2008-06-06

Pat

In article , trag writes:
On Jul 30, 11:35 am, (Michael Stemper) wrote:

Apparently Savage doesn't realize the key to making a small fortune
in publishing.

Start with a large fortune?

Got it in one!

--
Michael F. Stemper
#include Standard_Disclaimer
Twenty-four hours in a day; twenty-four beers in a case. Coincidence?

In article tatelephone, Pat Flannery writes:
William December Starr wrote:

Whatever _did_ happen to all those manganese nodules that were just
lying there on the ocean floor waiting to be vacuumed up, anyway?

They are still down there, it's just that no one has figured out a way
to economically dredge them up that's cheaper than making magnesium by
extracting it from seawater.

If we went to space, we could develop such methods!

--
Michael F. Stemper
#include Standard_Disclaimer
In my cheek? Oh, it appears to be my tongue.

wrote
Sean O'Hara wrote
wrote
Giga" "Giga" just(removetheseandaddmatthe wrote
Greg Goss wrote

They laughed at Columbus because they knew that the water tanks
and food supplies on his ship could never let him reach Japan.
And you know what? The intellectuals were right about that.

But ships very often stopped somewhere,
like a small island, to resupply such things.

And what islands might that be?

If we assume as a point of departure that the Americas are
submerged, say one kilometer, there'd be a huge archipelago
consisting of the Andes, Rockies, Sierra Nevadas, etc, and a
smaller one for the Appalachians. Columbus still could've landed
on Hispanola, though it would've been a small island chain.

In that scenario, you are less than half way to Japan.

Absent a good map, the odds of stumbling upon one
of the few islands on the way to Japan is near zero.

Have fun explaing how come plenty managed fine with pacific islands.

Magellan managed that fine.

William December Starr wrote:
(Wayne Throop) said

At least nobody claims we "should" colonize underwater
because it'd shield from some disasters that could
overtake the surface-dwellers. Nor, for that matter,
to mine the extensive manganese deposits, etc.

Whatever _did_ happen to all those manganese nodules that were just
lying there on the ocean floor waiting to be vacuumed up, anyway?

They're still there, not economic to mine.

:: your requirements, namely "massless thing" and "with an engine", are
:: mutually contradictory. And of course because all "massless things"
:: move at exactly lightspeed.

: Pat Flannery
: Except the starship Enterprise, which uses its warp field to turn it
: into a massless thing with an engine.

Where was it stated that the warp field made the ship massless?
That seems quite at odds with the way it's portrayed in any
of the seriesses.


Wayne Throop http://sheol.org/throopw