Gejigrad
21-05-2006, 22:07
[ Note, please, that this is around 2015. Anyone with a Mars colony after that timeframe, do not reply. ]
The New London Post
Reach For The Stars
+++Today, the Gejigradian government has announced its intent to fund a manned mission to Mars within the next ten years. Going well past the small probes the Gejigradian Astronomical Institute has sent out year after year, the mission represents a major goal for Gejigrad, paralelled only by the decision to construct a lunar base, several years ago.
+++With this decision, Gejigrad has stepped up the pace for not just "furry" nations, but all over the world, as well. People's President Matthew Thompson said earlier, in the official announcement: "It is past time for us to look beyond our Earth, and indeed, the solar system along with it, given the mammoth effort to house such a large number of people..." The Gejigradian populace, including those on orbital habitats and on the lunar colony, numbers past the one-billion mark. "...It is my greatest honour to lead us into this new frontier of interplanetary colonization, and beyond that first step, to interstellar colonization. Given that we are not the only ones with such a large populace, I can only hope that others will follow after us--and, if they surpass us in our goal, so much the better, for a door has been opened either way."
The story continues with interviews with various scientists, members of the GAI and engineers, and outlines the plan to build an intra-system ship in the orbiting habitats. The ship itself, it is said, will incorporate an age-old drive system--Project Orion--essentially a series of nuclear bombs pushing a ship along by means of a shockwave that is absorbed by a "pusher plate" in the rear. To deccellerate, the ship will need to possess large reaction thrusters to turn it, each time dipping into Mars' atmosphere, slowing it. Several weeks later, the ship will be at rest relative to Mars, and orbiting. Afterward, the first seven hundred colonists will be dropped to the surface, along with supplies for the first two years.
The New London Post
Reach For The Stars
+++Today, the Gejigradian government has announced its intent to fund a manned mission to Mars within the next ten years. Going well past the small probes the Gejigradian Astronomical Institute has sent out year after year, the mission represents a major goal for Gejigrad, paralelled only by the decision to construct a lunar base, several years ago.
+++With this decision, Gejigrad has stepped up the pace for not just "furry" nations, but all over the world, as well. People's President Matthew Thompson said earlier, in the official announcement: "It is past time for us to look beyond our Earth, and indeed, the solar system along with it, given the mammoth effort to house such a large number of people..." The Gejigradian populace, including those on orbital habitats and on the lunar colony, numbers past the one-billion mark. "...It is my greatest honour to lead us into this new frontier of interplanetary colonization, and beyond that first step, to interstellar colonization. Given that we are not the only ones with such a large populace, I can only hope that others will follow after us--and, if they surpass us in our goal, so much the better, for a door has been opened either way."
The story continues with interviews with various scientists, members of the GAI and engineers, and outlines the plan to build an intra-system ship in the orbiting habitats. The ship itself, it is said, will incorporate an age-old drive system--Project Orion--essentially a series of nuclear bombs pushing a ship along by means of a shockwave that is absorbed by a "pusher plate" in the rear. To deccellerate, the ship will need to possess large reaction thrusters to turn it, each time dipping into Mars' atmosphere, slowing it. Several weeks later, the ship will be at rest relative to Mars, and orbiting. Afterward, the first seven hundred colonists will be dropped to the surface, along with supplies for the first two years.