From: Amara Graps (Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de)
Date: Wed Dec 13 2000 - 00:01:46 MST
spike
>WOW cooool, Drexler, Bradbury, spike. There are three names I
>like to see mentioned in the same sentence.
me
>> You all have the same goal in mind, I know. Your
>> approach makes perfect sense to me ... but ..
spike
>Today I was doing some back of the envelope calcs and I think
>I know why the other two wanted to know. If interstellar matter
>is as dense as 200 nanograms per cubic kilometer, then crossing any
>interstellar distance in one human lifetime will be extremely difficult
>if not impossible.
I thought you knew the reasons why. Yes, that's right. Eric D's been
interested in interstellar travel for a long time. He's done some work
and thinking about it, but I don't think any of his work is in a
presentable written form.
Robert too, but I think that he's more interested in where is the
carbon (looking for M-brains).
BTW, interplanetary spacecraft for a few decades now have been using
shielding and other methods to ward against dust impacts (I can say
more about that in the future, but not now).
Amara
P.S. And don't forget that the Universe is a plasma with localized
magnetic fields.
--
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Amara Graps | Max-Planck-Institut fuer Kernphysik
Interplanetary Dust Group | Saupfercheckweg 1
+49-6221-516-543 | 69117 Heidelberg, GERMANY
Amara.Graps@mpi-hd.mpg.de * http://www.mpi-hd.mpg.de/dustgroup/~graps
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"Never fight an inanimate object." - P. J. O'Rourke
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