Interstellar Travel - Possibilities and Human Physiology

I would think that developing ways and means to exist in space, whether in large stations or by genetic modifications or both would be more practical than colonizing a planet.(1) there's more of it
(2) resources are available
(3) planets are "naturally occurring" space stationsOnce so developed, the need to colonize would be moot, although it may still be necessary to pick up certain resources. Certainly an animal that can naturally hibernate or form a spore would have an advantage in adapting to space travel.At first thought it would seem that solar sails would work best near stars, with the force dropping off as the square of the distance -- however this is similar to gravity, so they can provide constant net acceleration (and deceleration at the other end).Another typical science fiction engine is a ram jet that collects interstellar atoms through magnetic fields which also protect the ship from radiation and then uses fusion to create an ion jet. Problem is getting the fusion to work.Enjoy.Edited by RAZD, : nat

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If one puts aside the need to visit planets, then one does not need to keep a gravity style organism, and you could evolve to be better adapted to space travel - small for less consumption requirements, able to hibernate, for long trips with minimal use of resources. You would want to re-invent the species for a new environment. The resources needed for life are on the surface of the planet, and the only real raw input is solar energy to drive vegetation growth. Again, what you need is to adapt to the environment, use energy for plant growth and recycle the systems effluents. We've had small success because the environments created were small in comparison to the population loading. With robotics for mundane tasks the number of individuals necessary becomes an issue of long term species survival. See if you can find an old film "Silent Running" if you haven't already seen it (it's a classic SF film). Asteroids can have higher metal content than found on the surface of planets, making harvesting of these resources easier from space than from a planet.Think of a space station complex that can use solar sails to minimize energy consumption, and that travels to new star systems for raw materials to make another station complex -- it's like the station hunts for resources and reproduces when it has sufficient "nutrients," similar to bacteria.Enjoy.

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we are limited in our ability to understand
by our ability to understand
Rebel American Zen Deist
... to learn ... to think ... to live ... to laugh ...
to share.

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