If enough of us do this, we can build the ship ourselves. Watch the video and see.

How to get it done

As I have time, I am going to post here my ideas on how an Enterprise type ship could be built.    What the hurdles might be and what we might do to overcome them.   I welcome anyone's constructive comments and thoughts on the subject.    I may from time to time wander into other thought paths, but whatever I put here will be of interest to the future of 21st century Earth.     Here are some thoughts in general on basic structure.     It will have to be a large ship that would dwarf the recently retired shuttle fleet.    It would have to be large enough to house from 25 to 250 people.    The ship would have to have an atomic power plant.   I would recommend a Thorium based system so that we wouldn't have to worry about melt-downs.    A section of the ship would have to rotate on the central axis so that an artificial gravity could be set up on at least the living quarters of the ship.   The internal information and control network could be multiple redundant fiber based with at least 1000 base T capacity.   The control system in my opinion could be a simple widget app platform that could run on PCs, Tablet and handheld smartphones.    One widget for Navigation, one for Helm, one for Life Support, one for Engineering etc.    The control structure would be ethernet based using small microcontrollers with a web based main interface and VGA and USB interfaces for local testing and maintenance functions.    This will cut down on the types of spare parts needed since each control point would be identical to every other, differing only in the firmware that would be needed for each controller.    If one needed to be replaced, it would be programmed before it was installed.    All command and control points would be double or even triple redundant depending on their importance for the system.    Thrusters for the ship could be ION engines for steering and attitude adjustments.    The NERVA engine was tested in 1957 (I was close enough to be able to witness one of the live tests) (so loud at 15 or so miles away that we had to yell to hear each other and a fire plume that seemed to rise forever in the sky) so until something better comes along, that would be my recommendation for the main drive.   Ok, that seems to be enough for this post.    I hope to see comments soon.   Bye for now.

One scientist's view of the near future

I found this video to be very interesting and I submit it for your edification.
http://www.wimp.com/futurecivilization/
Definitely some food for thought.    Will we make it?

It's time!

It's time to get started.    Commercial endeavors have proven themselves capable of making spaceworthy vehicles.    Mankind should have started building permanent spacecraft for exploration in the '70s.   It's never too late to start, until we ruin our civilization and send ourselves back to the stoneage.    I believe that has happened more than once.    Anyway, enough of my speculations on ancient civilizations.    The point that I want to make in this blog is that I want to challenge everyone that reads these musings to start forming and implementing plans to build and fly a "Star Trek: Enterprise" type spacecraft (I know that we are not technologically advanced enough for star travel) to explore our Solar System.    A craft that could be called on to explore the inner planets and even go as far as Jupiter's moons.    It is within our grasp with current technology and certainly obtainable economically.     Even if all we do is collect $5 per month per person that follows this blog.    We could show the resolution that mankind has to expand our horizons and explore space.    I'm not advocating that anyone send me anything.   I am hoping that someone will want to organize a non-profit group to make this happen.    I read the hoax that someone at Google put up today about "Virgle".    Well, it doesn't have to be an April Fools Joke.   This can be real in our lifetimes.    We don't need to wait for any government or group of governments to get together to do this.   If we do, it will never get done.    I don't see any heads of state with the determination that JFK showed in the '60s.     Help me now!   Post it here and promote this blog and it will happen.   Thanks for your attention.     MK.