No nukes first.

--- In spacesettlers@y..., "George Perkins" wrote:

> A private company is not going to legally get ahold of nuclear
> material without governmental cooperation... and to think that's
> going to happen is just a fantasy.

You should have heard the ruckus when I suggested that the largest
cruise ships should use nuclear propulsion. I think that folks had a
mental inage of the Love Boat going down in a mushroom cloud!

> Those that still insist on nuclear-first are just zealots that we
> need to look beyond if we want to get anything done.

Well, how about beamed power for the plasma thingie? Big solar
collectors, yes, but you don't have to carry them along. I guess the
leave-it-behind powerplant could be nuclear, too (kept where the
governments can keep an eye on the thing).

> We HAVE to start with mass drivers whether they're good or not,
> whether we like it or not.

Well, I happen to think that they are pretty good. And they, too,
can use nuclear or beamed power.

> We can take the nuclear dive later (we can get the nuclear stuff in
> space).

If it turns out that we need it, yes.

> George

Xenophile