[TML] Noncanonical TU 3D.

[shadow at shadowgard.com]

On 4 Jan 2008 at 21:45, Thad Coons wrote:

> On 1/4/08, Timothy Little <tim at little-possums.net> wrote:
> >
> >
> > Though it should be possible to find a large cometary body in deep
> > space from which to refuel.  There should be billions out there, and
> > by then sensors should be good enough to find one.  Even if you have
> > to detonate a huge nuclear flashbulb in the middle of deep space and
> > keep your sensors peeled for echoes, you only need to succeed once.
> 
> 
> There's also a navigational problem involved. As I have it, without a
> star-sized gravity well to anchor both ends of a jump, there is a
> large uncertainty in the exit point. Actually finding a large cometary
> body in deep space is one problem: Guaranteeing that you can jump
> to within a few hundred AU of it is another. Also, at this primitve state
> of jump technology and colonization, the  techiques for mining or
> collection and adequate purification of fuel under wilderness
> conditions are far from well-knownand tested. At this point, it's
> considered too risky.

Sorry, but the mining and refining techniques will be *well* known 
from folks working in the outer parts of the solar system. Even with 
reaction drives, the volatiles from comets and other icy bodies are 
well worth going after.

--
Leonard Erickson (aka shadow)
shadow at shadowgard dot com