Interstellar travel

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Sent: Wednesday, August 08, 2001 3:54 AM
Subject: [spacesettlers] Re: Interstellar travel

[snikt]
And in 500 years, they're not going to learn to go faster than 0.1C?

If the discovery is made earlier, then the unoccupied "good spots" are even
closer. Perhaps some of the ships of the slow colonization wave will arrive
at systems that are *already* colonized by the fast wave.

But perhaps you were willing to ask "And in 500 years, the *first wave* of
colonists is not going to learn to go faster than 0.1c?". If that is the
case, the most honest answer is simply: I don't know. However, if we look at
historical precedents (and this time they do seem applicable), we can see
that the New World (the Americas) took 500 years to be at the same level of
science and technology of Europe, and even though just in a few spots
(United States and Canada). So, I think that the discovery of this faster
propulsion would be more likely to occur at Sol or at one of the nearby
older colonies.

[snikt]
Xenophile

Dr. Omni