re: Terraformation versus interstellar travel costs
Hi All
Colonising Venus or Mars would be way cheaper in energy terms than high c-fraction generation ships by a BIG factor surely and they're more easily accessible than the stars for the 99.9% of humans who will be left behind in Sol Space.
Venus has an atmosphere with accessible CO2 and N2, plus significant amounts of S and H2O. City-sized colonies can float in the atmospheric zones that are cool enough for comfort. Also the surface might be hostile but it's not inaccessible to even our current technology. It's a challenge.
Sure. The Stars. But Venus, Mercury and Mars shouldn't be written off too soon.
Adam