al@ames-lm.UUCP (Al Globus) (01/24/84)
Suppose you had been living in space colonies for a few generations. Why should you care (too much) whether you happen to be near Earth or not? If not, you might want to get some elbow room by leaving the solar system. Speed is not a problem except that you might run out of supplies and/or energy. Here's where a comet might come in handy. Does anyone know the physics of rondevousing (spelling?) a space colony with an outbound comet? If it's feasible, one could use the comet for materials until you get near maximum distance from the sun, then use up whatever's left of the comet for fuel to blast towards the nearest star. Presumably you've established that the star has a few asteroids or comets to feed off once you get there of course. Rumour has it there are a lot of comets out there, we should get some good information on composition from the Halleys fleet, maybe this'll be our ticket to the stars!
richard@sequent.UUCP (01/25/84)
Only problem with that is it gets awfully cold out there. Comets, by themselves, don't make very good neighbors. Besides that, in its "dormant" stage, it would be reall *boring*. Another reason to stay close to home is: *Where* would you go out to dinner. Don't tell me another Space Station - they'll all look pretty much the same. *I* want an ocean view when I eat seafood. from the confused and bleeding fingertips of ...!sequent!richard
sew@minn-ua.UUCP (01/31/84)
#R:ames-lm:-12400:minn-ua:15100001:000:425 minn-ua!sew Jan 31 09:53:00 1984 If I remember my physics correctly, you'd be better off meeting the comet on its way *in*, and moving away from it by the sun. If you can accelerate a habitat to cometary speed, however, you'd only want to tag the comet for whatever materials it might provide..would not need it for acceleration as (1) you have enough thrust for a generation ship and (2) a comet does not have sufficient gravity to accelerate the habitat.