Mars Family Robinson

Dear Tangoman,

I am just making an educated guess. As you suggested, here is a review of my conclusions.

1)
*> I agree with Bill. Very soon Earthlings are going to loose
> management control to the persons out there, unless the spacehabs
> are dependent on basic things like food and water from Earth.

You state this with such certainty. Are you basing your certainty on
these outcomes happening on Earth? Let's see, California seems to
have plenty of food and water, therefore it's not dependent on the
US, and it hasn't declared independence.

> The guys out there will break loose as soon as possible, and since
> most will be highly trained engineers they will figure out how to
> survive without help from Earth.

San Jose, Boston, Raleigh all seem to have high proportions of
engineers and they're not looking to separate either. I wonder
what's holding them back?*

The one aspect which seems essential for any group to break loose is geographical separation. contiguous groups, even if they do break loose, may come together later, or may be forced to come together. E.g.. 1) The Civil war in USA, although there was a desire for separation, the desire did not fructify. 2) If Canada and Australia were to touch Britain by some magic probably they would all integrate as one giant nation, but because they are separated by great distances they are independent nations, just like USA, even though nominally they are under the British crown. 3) East and West Germany though separated did reunify, because they are contiguous, same will probably happen in the case of North and South Korea 4) The original Pakistan which comprised the present Pakistan and Bangladesh split, because they were separated by the Indian land mass; if not, it is unlikely that the separation would have taken place. 5) All the colonial powers have lost their colonies, because of geographical separation. 6) In the case of USA, if any separation is to take place it will probably happen in Alaska, if it becomes populous enough, and if there are other supporting reasons........... Of course there will be many other factors, but this one point seems to me to be the most important. ....... The geographical separation of any colony in Space will just be too great, for it to remain politically attached to any entity on Earth.

2)

> Yes, Earth will have the Nukes to knock them out while they won't
> have these weapons (initially),

Could you share some of these secret long range planning documents
you're in possession of. I too would like to know what the future
holds.

I don't understand the mystery here. Earth has nuclear weapons, right? And plenty of them. While a space colony is no where is sight, and the first things they make will not be nuclear weapons.

3)

> but on the other hand they would have mastered space in a way that
> landlubbers on Earth will not be able to comprehend.

Aren't you a landlubber? How is it possible that you can comprehend
the spacer techniques but landlubbers in the future won't?

OK, I take that back. We may be able to comprehend it, but they will be able to decide better what they want and how to achieve it.

4)

> It is also possible to survive without trade.

Yes, here on Earth we call that country North Korea.

The problem with North Korea is that it is spending most of its wealth on the military.

5)

> I don't agree that because a spacecraft is man rated it has
> necessarily to be very expensive.

Can you tell us why you think this? What tests, which of course are
expensive to conduct, would you eliminate? What criteria would you
modify?

When I said spacecraft I meant interplanetary spacecraft which do not operate in an aerodynamic environment. It should be possible to design these vehicles and have them function precisely as designed. While life support systems have to be foolproof, the fact that the vehicle is manned means that minor repairs can be carried out during a mission.

6)
> Only, I think the confrontation will come at a very early stage,
> so it is unlikely that missiles will fly.

On what basis do you think this?

> Nuking them will be just like nuking the whales - who are true
> masters of the sea. Pointless.

A nuclear explosions will kill a whale. If that is your intent, then
surely it isn't pointless to achieve success.

OK. I am wrong, after all nuclear weapons have been used on Earth, so there is no reason to believe they will not be used again. It all depends on the type of climate we build up. Of course, in the present Rambo climate where people could seek fun nuking whales, we cannot be very optimistic.

Best Wishes
Selvaraj.