Space/Science — HabitableZone

Space/Science » in reply to re: Interstellar travel

re: Interstellar travel
ER — (archived)

I agree with TB on this one. generation starships will be so much like orbiting colonies that if we do find the need to move to another star, it will be to establish orbital colonies around that one. An earth-like planet will not be a requirement, or even desireable.

I also feel earthlike planets will be very rare. Don't get me wrong, worlds superficially like earth--land/sea ratio, oxygen atmosphere, carbon-based life, tolerable climate, etc, may be plentiful, but that doesn't mean they'll be habitable. Our crops and livestock will either find competition with the local flora and fauna impossible, or they will overwhelm the local bugs and wreck the ecology. Or probably both! Further, starship crews that know how to make food chemically from water, methane, ammonia and rocks are not going to develop the skills overnight to become dirt farmers, especially if they've haven't seen dirt for generations. There won't be time to genetically alter our domesticated biota for the new world, or alter the locals to our needs.

There is one other insidious constraint. Rust never sleeps, equipment wears out, and so do human skills and motivations. We would have to ensure the ship was a minimum enough size and complexity, call it a critical mass, that it has a fighting chance of maintaining itself and even grow. It may take a lot failed colonies to develop those capabilities and overcome the inevitable entropy that would be the enemy of any small, closed system.

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