So, the USS Enterprise from television classic Star Trek is pretty much one of the most famous and iconic spaceships in popular culture. Even if you've never seen an episode of Star Trek (TOS or otherwise), you'd probably be able to recognize it anyway.
For scientists, the ship stands for something greater: an ideal to strive for so that one day, like Captain Kirk and his crew, man can roam the final frontier.
Well that dream may not be so far off anymore. An engineer has declared that, with proper funding, we could have the USS Enterprise operational in 20 years.
No, I did not forget a zero.
Here's an outline for the design of the proposed ship, if you're interested.
BTE Dan has clearly done his homework. He intends for the ship to serve several purposes: it would act as both a spaceport and space station, use lasers to enable probe exploration, and even offer a fascinating venue for adventurous space tourists. This is more than just a passion project of a single trekkie. This would be a valuable, and hugely profitable, tool in our missions to space.
Especially with the current economic situation, getting the United States' Congress to fund such a project is a large obstacle. Again, however, BTE Dan has it all planned out. He has created an entire list of the cuts and tax increases necessary to fund such a project; they are all so spread out, however, that they would be minimal and hardly noticeable.
(If you want to look more into this, ask the man behind the idea some questions, or whatever, you can visit his site here.)
I mean... wow. It's certainly a bold claim on the engineer's part, but he has clearly put a lot of thought into this proposal of his. I never thought that we could have such a thing in our lifetime, but I guess the future is a lot closer than I thought. Gene Roddenberry would be proud.
My verdict?
For scientists, the ship stands for something greater: an ideal to strive for so that one day, like Captain Kirk and his crew, man can roam the final frontier.
Well that dream may not be so far off anymore. An engineer has declared that, with proper funding, we could have the USS Enterprise operational in 20 years.
No, I did not forget a zero.
MSNBCIn Star Trek lore, the first Starship Enterprise will be built by the year 2245. But today, an engineer has proposed — and outlined in meticulous detail — building a full-sized, ion-powered version of the Enterprise complete with 1G of gravity on board, and says it could be done with current technology, within 20 years.
"We have the technological reach to build the first generation of the spaceship known as the USS Enterprise — so let's do it," writes the curator of the Build The Enterprise website, who goes by the name of BTE Dan.
This "Gen1" Enterprise could get to Mars in 90 days, to the moon in three, and "could hop from planet to planet dropping off robotic probes of all sorts en masse — rovers, special-built planes and satellites,” BTE Dan says.
Here's an outline for the design of the proposed ship, if you're interested.
BTE Dan has clearly done his homework. He intends for the ship to serve several purposes: it would act as both a spaceport and space station, use lasers to enable probe exploration, and even offer a fascinating venue for adventurous space tourists. This is more than just a passion project of a single trekkie. This would be a valuable, and hugely profitable, tool in our missions to space.
Especially with the current economic situation, getting the United States' Congress to fund such a project is a large obstacle. Again, however, BTE Dan has it all planned out. He has created an entire list of the cuts and tax increases necessary to fund such a project; they are all so spread out, however, that they would be minimal and hardly noticeable.
(If you want to look more into this, ask the man behind the idea some questions, or whatever, you can visit his site here.)
I mean... wow. It's certainly a bold claim on the engineer's part, but he has clearly put a lot of thought into this proposal of his. I never thought that we could have such a thing in our lifetime, but I guess the future is a lot closer than I thought. Gene Roddenberry would be proud.
My verdict?