NASA's Hundred Year Starship to colonize the galaxy

~Zen~ · Oct 27, 2010

Recently the British scientist Steven Hawking wrote that colonization of other planets and solar systems is humankind's only hope for long-term survival.

In 2005 NASA Administrator Michael Griffin identified space colonization as the ultimate goal of current spaceflight programs. He went on to state that the ultimate goal of any space exploration is the colonization of not only other planets, but also remote solar systems.

The NASA Lunar outpost, providing a permanent human presence on the moon, is at the planning stage. There is an ongoing development of technologies that may be used in future space colonization projects.

The US space agency Nasa has announced an intriguing new project called the 'Hundred Year Starship' which aims to send humans on a one-way trip to newly discovered planets across the galaxy.

"The human space programme is now really aimed at settling other worlds," said Pete Worden, director of Nasa'a Ames research laboratory, at a seminar in San Francisco. "Twenty years ago you had to whisper that in dark bars [or] get fired."

The Ames laboratory is responsible for Pioneer 10, the space probe that is currently hurtling through deep space equipped with a golden plaque describing what humans look like and the location of earth.

But while Pioneer 10 is telling the aliens - some say foolishly - where we are, the Hundred Year Starship mission is saying: 'We're coming to get you.' And the aliens have reason to be frightened: while a mere $100,000 in funding is coming from Nasa, $1 million is being provided by the US government's shadowy defence R&D agency Darpa (home to the legendary 'space bomber').

However, $1.1m isn't nearly enough to fund such an ambitious project as colonising new worlds and the Ames lab is hoping to attract private funding. Worden says: "We hope to inveigle some billionaires to form a Hundred Year Starship fund."

One of those billionaires could be Google co-founder Larry Page, who has already been interrogating Worden about the price of a mission to Mars - the planet that would very likely be the testing ground for more ambitious colonisation missions beyond the solar system.

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JackFlash · Oct 27, 2010

How about sending a team of robots and human DNA to far away planets. The robots could clone the DNA and raise the first generation of humans on any class "M" planet. Eventually, we would have a whole world of new enemies to make war with.

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NASA's Hundred Year Starship to colonize the galaxy

~Zen~ California Tripper Administrator

JackFlash Senior Member

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NASA's Hundred Year Starship to colonize the galaxy

~Zen~ California Tripper Administrator

JackFlash Senior Member

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