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I apologize. I didn't realize we were talking about a different type of technology that would change the way people live. I love futurism and futuristic stuff. I think the tunnel world is a very good idea. I'm surprised that we don't have stuff like that built and set up already with the way that our planet is falling apart.

ISBN 140218338
Space Settlements A Design Study
Is a non-fiction book on the subject. Gerard K. O’Neill is a contributor. He also happens to be a Princeton professor and one of the inventors of the cyclotron. And one of Jeff Bezos’ teachers.

ISBN 9781451608113
The Case for Mars
By Robert Zubrin
Is another non-fiction book on the subject.
Zubrin worked for Lockheed Martin

ISBN 9788445076811
Red Mars
Fiction- dramatizes many of the ideas in Zubrin’s book.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_thermal_rocket

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_electric_rocket

https://www.nasa.gov/news-release/nasa- ... -missions/

 Project Rho -- Atomic Rockets 

The site was mainly intended for science fiction authors who wanted a little scientific accuracy so they can write SF "the way God and Heinlein intended" (Arlan Andrews's Law).  The technical term is "Hard Science-Fiction".

While the site originally focused on rocketry equations, it has grown to encompass other topics of interest to science fiction authors and game designers.  Things like galactic empires and interstellar trade.

In the strange but true department: my nephew works for SpaceX and I briefly consulted for a Nasa contractor. He loves his job. I had trouble fitting in with the strange mix of academic elitism, pecking order and pettiness with military hierarchal rigor (imagine lots of accountability and no power and no real guidance) and science worship - even though I am a big fan of the new space race and the possibilities it might open up.

There are reasons private companies might do space better than large government agencies.

My nephew says they use ion thrusters for the SpaceX satellites he works on. They can fly-by-wire (or fly-by-radio) to steer around other satellites. This was science fiction at one time. A nuclear sub can stay submerged much longer than a diesel sub which has to come up for air to run the diesel engines. A nuclear rocket could generate electricity and use the electricity to accelerate ions and provide thrust. You still need the ions to accelerate. But ion power and nuclear subs already exist so the ideas could be combined. Nuclear reactors also generate heat. The heat can cause gases to expand and be directed out a nozzle. There you have your action-reaction engine like Wall-E with a fire extinguisher. Rocket thrust. The nuclear rocket wins the mass to thrust contest. More delta-v (charge/difference in velocity) per kg. Since a rocket leaving Earth has to carry the weight of the fuel as well as the astronauts or goods/equipment this matters a lot. Every kg of fuel requires more energy to lift. Which is why a three man (person) space vehicle needs such a big (several stories tall) rocket.

The disadvantage of a nuclear rocket is, you know, nukes. Hard to figure out. Fuel is rare. And non renewal. Radiation is harmful. And so on - but they are in the works. Were tried then abandoned, now they are trying again.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Nuclear_submarine

Anybody view the 1968 movie 'Space Odyssey 2001' lately? Anybody ever read the book of the same title?

Read the book (and its sequels), saw the movie (and its sequel). Clarke and Kubrick got it all wrong.

• Pan-Am (Pan-American Airlines) ceased operation in 1991 -- ten years before the book's/movie's setting.

• Truly sentient artificial intelligence has yet to be achieved -- 20+ years after the book's/movie's setting.

• No lunar colonies as of 2024.

• Wormholes are only a mathematical construct, requiring forms of matter and types of energy (more mathematical constructs) that have not been demonstrated to exist.

• Space aliens are only hypothetical, and have not yet been proven to exist, despite the delusional ravings of a few self-appointed "experts" and their devout followers.

Great book, good movie, but both are works of fiction.

https://www.caltech.edu/about/news/in-a ... r-in-space

In a First, Caltech's Space Solar Power Demonstrator Wirelessly Transmits Power in Space
June 01, 2023
A space solar power prototype that was launched into orbit in January is operational and has demonstrated its ability to wirelessly transmit power in space and to beam detectable power to Earth for the first time.

Wireless power transfer was demonstrated on March 3 by MAPLE, one of three key technologies being tested by the Space Solar Power Demonstrator (SSPD-1), the first space-borne prototype from Caltech's Space Solar Power Project (SSPP). SSPP aims to harvest solar power in space and transmit it to the Earth's surface.


MAPLE, short for Microwave Array for Power-transfer Low-orbit Experiment and one of the three key experiments within SSPD-1, consists of an array of flexible lightweight microwave power transmitters driven by custom electronic chips that were built using low-cost silicon technologies. It uses the array of transmitters to beam the energy to desired locations. For SSPP to be feasible, energy transmission arrays will need to be lightweight to minimize the amount of fuel needed to send them to space, flexible so they can fold up into a package that can be transported in a rocket, and a low-cost technology overall.

MAPLE was developed by a Caltech team led by Ali Hajimiri, Bren Professor of Electrical Engineering and Medical Engineering and co-director of SSPP.

https://amp.cnn.com/cnn/2023/12/27/clim ... index.html



The China Academy of Space Technology, a spacecraft designer and manufacturer, is aiming to send a solar satellite into low orbit in 2028 and into high orbit by 2030, according to a 2022 South China Morning News report.


There’s been a burst of activity from the UK government. It commissioned an independent study which reported in 2021 that space-based solar was technically feasible, highlighting designs such as the UK-led CASSIOPeiA, a satellite 1.7 kilometers (1 mile) in diameter that aims to deliver 2 gigawatts of power. In June this year, the government announced nearly $5.5 million in funding to universities and tech companies “to drive forward innovation” in the space-based solar sector.

And Europe has its Solaris program, to establish the technical and political viability of space-based solar, in preparation for a possible decision in 2025 to launch a full development program.