Century (Generation) Spacecraft

[Trevor Woodrow]

Hi all,

Two questions.

Read this:

http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/44780898/ns/technology_and_science-space/

Question one: If this expedition was going to happen, and they came knocking on your door right now with your ticket, would you go?

Question two: Would you change your answer if you were in the prime of your life and had no dependants?

If no to both, then why...okay that is three questions, but that is okay.

For me, I would answer no and yes. If I was early to mid-twenties fresh out of school with no dependants, I would be good to go!

t

[Trevor Woodrow]

Tru dat!

[Trevor Woodrow]

Ah, my friend, I was just highlighting other potential "ethical" issues...issues that I would have no issue with, lol!

Yeah, actaully did the math on your 15% issue..that is a big deal. I had no idea, but that is why we have the engineers working on that, lol!

AI, even assuming that it was up to snuff, if we are going to expend the resources, have the capability and have the volunteers...might as well man it.

[Greg Marshall]

Trevor, you suggest that robotics/artificial intelligence would be far inferior to a human crew and then proceed to outline some serious problems that could come up with an animated human crew! Again, by the time this mission is possible (as defined by the speed requirement) the state of artificial intelligence might be well beyond what is needed.

[Trevor Woodrow]

See, this brings up so many very interesting conversations.

Hopp and Greg..robotic crew? Yeah, probably "safer", but limited. There is only so much that they can do. Programing can only go so far and feed back in either direction will very quickly become too slow to be very helpful.

Live crew is superior in so many ways but also has issues..."genetic selection" might be a big deal but maybe not as much as others...like daming generations 2, 3, 4....to this life that they might not have chosen for themselves. Andof course, and here is the big one...usefulness to the mission. Greg, you touched on this but probably not on purpose. There is no way enough consumables could be stored on the craft. It would have to be a closed system. Everything must be recycled, nothing can be lost. Eveything must have a place and there must be a place for everything and everyone. What happens if something comes out of place...say a 2nd generation refuses to play the game so to speak? Does the mission team continue to maintain this member who is using resources but not contributing to the cause?

[Greg Marshall]

That sounds right to me. There are a lot of ethical questions around "genetic selection" of the crew, but there is no doubt that a primary objective would be diversity.

But also, I'm not at all convinced that it would have to be a "live" (animated) crew, or not entirely, anyway. Cryogenics is nowhere near the ability to keep people in suspended animation for 100 years, but it's probably closer than the technology to travel at 15% of the speed of light! The advantages of not having to provide food, water and oxygen for hundreds of people are enormous.

[Trevor Woodrow]

I would have to assume 'cause I am not bright enough to "know" but I would think the craft would have to be the size of an aircraft carrier and the crew would need to be several hundred people. Keep in mind, in addition to manning the ship, they would also need to start a successful colony on the new world. All of this while attempting to maintain a genetic diversity that will make abnormality less likely. If another craft comes it would likely to be several generations before the could come and relieve replenish our crew.

[Trevor Woodrow]

Lol, you mean other than you, right? But remember my friend...it is a generational ship...one guy...very shallow gene pool....

[Trevor Woodrow]

Lol, I respect your honesty Greg!

[Greg Marshall]

On Q 2, I'd like to say my answer would be yes, but to be honest, I'm too much of a chicken.

[Trevor Woodrow]

So...if I am reading right...you would answer "yes" to question number 2?