You're talking about interstellar travel. We're talking about merely getting out of our nest and using what is in the neighborhood. Our present science allows us to build what is needed to get off the planet.
And "generation ships" have been studied for some time. Are you thinking inside the box, or are you considering that fuel/supplies can be launched before the ship, so the ship does not have to carry everything? Are you also considering thermonuclear Orion drive? How is your fuel consumption estimate affected by running the ship through gravitationally assisted accelerations for several decades before the crew zip on board and heads out of the system?
Start from the premise that we have to get our eggs out of this nest which is at the bottom of a gravity well.
We already have technologies with which we could colonize the Moon. Once we're established in that low gravity environment the hop to asteroids is easy. Once we mine an asteroid or two we'll have more resources than we have on Earth. The Mars gravity well is an option.
If you want faster travel, use nuclear engines. Look it up. Fuel supply is only an issue until the first metallic asteroid is mined.
As with any planetary probe, they are using the scientific standard of the metric system. Of course, as Mercury is smaller than Earth the meter also is smaller. As usual, Earth meters are used until Earth escape velocity is reached. Solar meters are used until the craft decelerates at Mercury. The Mercury meters will then be used for the remainder of the mission.
...well, compared to the melting point of Tin anyway...
I don't think making Tin angry is particularly interesting, but I think it's just rude to announce a Mercury probe. The Metal Men, like other superheroes, deserve their privacy.
Gee, you don't suppose the patent application slightly neglected to use the word "cartoon" regarding prior art? In addition to anime, there is a long history of emotion-expressing cars. "Speed Buggy", anyone?
I don't want to know how you know the car ahead of you is angry. Being able to see its face implies one set of odd and undesirable possibilities, and if you can't then there are worse possibilities.
It's also not that hard for security people to figure out what to do if they find one of these cans.
"Please stand in that parking lot, press the button, and within 30 minutes we should easily be able to decide whether you bring inside your odd can or your new car."
(Terrorist meeting: "So we'll give this guy a fake winning can, then give him a new car full of explosives...")
On/., isn't the choice between laser surgery or getting a head worn display which projects on your retina? Then if all you want is sharper vision, feed a video signal to the display.
I assume you don't have enough money to create an implanted optical interface.
"The response time was long and slow, and he became increasingly irritated as his lunch hour dribbled away. All at once, he had a flash of inspiration. 'Golly, all the BBS does is show messages, take postings, answer questions like "What's my quota?" and transfer files between users,' recalls Wetzel, now 75 and still living in Dallas with his wife. 'Wow, I think we could build a web site that could do that!'"
But that earth rise is just a great sight, and also the pic of the earth from a distance is just.... ( I don't have the words to say what I felt looking at that picture, other then small)
Then small what?
Because "then" refers to time, he obviously was referring to how small he was 35 years ago.
Slashdot Mirror
No, Linda Lovelace was not a man.
And "generation ships" have been studied for some time. Are you thinking inside the box, or are you considering that fuel/supplies can be launched before the ship, so the ship does not have to carry everything? Are you also considering thermonuclear Orion drive? How is your fuel consumption estimate affected by running the ship through gravitationally assisted accelerations for several decades before the crew zip on board and heads out of the system?
(Too bad Bussard ramjets won't work...)
It's like a soap opera that won't let you blink without presenting another commercial.
We already have technologies with which we could colonize the Moon. Once we're established in that low gravity environment the hop to asteroids is easy. Once we mine an asteroid or two we'll have more resources than we have on Earth. The Mars gravity well is an option.
If you want faster travel, use nuclear engines. Look it up. Fuel supply is only an issue until the first metallic asteroid is mined.
...he moves so fast that the mission will take seven years to catch up with him.
The beginning is going to be hard. The complicated route means that the launch window each day is 13 seconds. Hope for good weather.
We're already on the only planet which he has put his flag on. You going to stay here and hope nothing bad happens?
As with any planetary probe, they are using the scientific standard of the metric system. Of course, as Mercury is smaller than Earth the meter also is smaller. As usual, Earth meters are used until Earth escape velocity is reached. Solar meters are used until the craft decelerates at Mercury. The Mercury meters will then be used for the remainder of the mission.
I don't think making Tin angry is particularly interesting, but I think it's just rude to announce a Mercury probe. The Metal Men, like other superheroes, deserve their privacy.
Gee, you don't suppose the patent application slightly neglected to use the word "cartoon" regarding prior art? In addition to anime, there is a long history of emotion-expressing cars. "Speed Buggy", anyone?
I don't want to know how you know the car ahead of you is angry. Being able to see its face implies one set of odd and undesirable possibilities, and if you can't then there are worse possibilities.
First take a vaccine against pain receptors.
Then be careful when reading so you don't bleed to death from paper cuts.
You thought he did not integrate it seamlessly?
Is there a study of the performance of a Pringles cantenna which is full of Pringles?
"Sir, now that the mission is over can we surface and activate my winning can to see if they're able to deliver my car within 30 minutes?"
"Please stand in that parking lot, press the button, and within 30 minutes we should easily be able to decide whether you bring inside your odd can or your new car."
(Terrorist meeting: "So we'll give this guy a fake winning can, then give him a new car full of explosives...")
I assume you don't have enough money to create an implanted optical interface.
You really should give us a heads-up before them things start buzzing around.
"The response time was long and slow, and he became increasingly irritated as his lunch hour dribbled away. All at once, he had a flash of inspiration. 'Golly, all the BBS does is show messages, take postings, answer questions like "What's my quota?" and transfer files between users,' recalls Wetzel, now 75 and still living in Dallas with his wife. 'Wow, I think we could build a web site that could do that!'"
Just order a stone copy of "a huge Italian-made Omag Mill5 five-axis milling machine". In red, of course.
Uh, no. We don't yet know enough about climate science. Here's yet another missed detail: Too much UV makes plankton create reflective clouds.
Is licensing sensitive to whether these cores are hard or soft?
For an approximation of an eon, just measure how long your next /. outage lasts.