That would be awesome. Unfortunately, I think the author has seriously underestimated the logistical nightmare resulting from some of the proposed features. The gravity wheel, while not a new idea, is needlessly complicated in its design. Most of the luxury features (IMAX theaters? Restaurants? Walking gardens? WTF?) add nothing but dead weight, which the author points out as being a major concern in other areas. All of those things would have to be ... weightlessness-proofed(?) as well.
The sheer size of the craft is ridiculous. Three times the length of an aircraft carrier, 20+ times as wide and operating with only a crew of 1,000? "Only 1,000" is a monumental achievement in space flight by itself. I can't even imagine the technical innovations required to keep that crew alive. Something as simple as heat dissipation isn't. Oh, it would have to be built/assembled in space too because we can't launch it. Our experience in building things in space amounts to two little PoS space stations and maybe a telescope. For inspiration, we should be looking at submarines instead of luxury liners. I think for a chance to go to Mars, I could suck it up and do without all of the comforts of Earth for 6 months. Give me a duty rotation, my computer, a library of games, about 1TB of movies and a Kindle full of reading material, and I would be good to go. I would love to see the Enterprise engineered into a working spacecraft and would give a billion ducks to the program if it was realistic and I had that much money. We really need to get out there, seriously get out there, and not just because we are playing a "my rocket is bigger than yours" game with another country. I just don't see it happening in 20 years, or even 50. :( On 5/25/2012 10:27 AM, Larry C. Lyons wrote: > > a real life Enterprise > > http://www.buildtheenterprise.org/faq ~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~| Order the Adobe Coldfusion Anthology now! http://www.amazon.com/Adobe-Coldfusion-Anthology/dp/1430272155/?tag=houseoffusion Archive: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/message.cfm/messageid:351429 Subscription: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/subscribe.cfm Unsubscribe: http://www.houseoffusion.com/groups/cf-community/unsubscribe.cfm
