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When a large object, from outside our solar system drifts by, passing through,
back to interstellar space. Should we attempt to colonize it ?
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Could we calculate where its going, control it, and create a self-sustaining colony of 10,000 people on it would be some good questions involved.
The MiniTruth passed its first act #001, comname: PATRIOT ACT on October 26, 2001.
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Considering that it may not take us anywhere for hundreds of thousands of years and that it will quick retreat into an inky, cold void, I'd say no. It might be more useful to take an Oort Cloud object of whatever size you want (1 km across, 10 km across, 100 km across), send it past our sun and off toward Alpha Centauri (or some other destination)
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Making such a colony self sufficient would be very difficult unless there was a large amount of stored chemical energy or geothermal power available.
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Useful, if the planet had a radioactive core producing heat. Or hydrogen bombs could be exploded, deep underground, to warm things up.
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We get several comets per year. When will we get a large object flung out of another solar system, or a highly radioactive remnant from a supernova ?
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If it fell from outside the solar system, it'll take some delta vee to match velocities with it. At least 12 km/sec if it passes through near earth space. If it's retrograde, that could be up to 72 km/sec.
A planet passing through could be disruptive to the planets, asteroids and comets too. Might cause some problems.
Hop's [url=http://www.amazon.com/Conic-Sections-Celestial-Mechanics-Coloring/dp/1936037106]Orbital Mechanics Coloring Book[/url] - For kids from kindergarten to college.
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We get several comets per year. When will we get a large object flung out of another solar system, or a highly radioactive remnant from a supernova ?
So far as I know, all known objects in our solar system have elliptical orbits (though some are very close to parabolic)
An incoming object with a hyperbolic orbit would be big news.
Brian Marsden usually reports new asteroid or comet discoveries to the community. If I ever did an sf story on visitors from another solar system I would have the ship discovered by NEAT or LINEAR (NEO search programs) and I'd have Marsden report in his very understated, calm manner that the object had a hyperbolic trajectory.
Hop's [url=http://www.amazon.com/Conic-Sections-Celestial-Mechanics-Coloring/dp/1936037106]Orbital Mechanics Coloring Book[/url] - For kids from kindergarten to college.
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