Mae Jemison, Who Was the First Black Woman in Space, Will Now Lead 100-Year Starship Project

Should any space ship be developing for a hundred year journey, I want to go! And if they feel the need to put me in a can like tuna and freeze me to open 100 years later with a tuna key on the can, I still wish to go!

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See life in all its beautiful colors, and
from different perspectives too!

I like it! I love it! I want some more of it!
Make me some hundred years space travelen's space craft rocket machine!
BLAST OFF! OH YEA! Baby circles! OH YEA! More baby circles!
I like it! I love it! I want some more of it!.....

It's endeavors like these that make me wish humans achieve biological immortality so we can live to see this happen.

Read the Wiki article: Strategies for Engineered Negligible Senescence

I LOVE SPACESHIPS!!

AND PRETTY WOMEN!!

I can tell you where she got the idea, as well. That idea was explicitly quoted in the report from the alien autopsy after the Roswell crash. Roswell autopsy found that aliens didn't have any reproductive organs and didn't have any organs for digestion. If one is going for 50-60 years one way interstellar trip, he/she would not need them.

Such a long trip would only afford 'designed' humanoids.

Its a sound idea; two major stumbling blocks will be preserving life for 100+ years, this requires DNA manipulation either by supplement or treatment to extend life-spans dramatically while keeping reproductive organs functional; second it will require considerable advancements in resource recycling so that life support can be sustained.

Cryogenics is too far off for long distance travel but it may be available in 50 years, however we will likely be able to have the option of having longer life-spans by then also. Some crew will need to remain awake during the trip. A AI would not be capable of dealing with the infinite unknowns of an Alien solar system if everyone was in permanent suspension.

As the issues of Earth progress, and currently no major government party taking humane initiative in solving them!, its likely we will need a backup plan like this for mankind sooner or later as our society destroys itself and people from within....

Why the hell do they make such a big deal that she was the first negro lady in space, does it really matter?
I racism is a thing of the past then so should making a big deal every time a black person does something productive to the world!!

The less we leave up to others is the more we command our lives

much more practical to terraform mars, slingshot asteroids about the planet to accelerate the planet, crash comets for water and some delta v, spin it around jupiter and try to get any moons that might be of use, heat may require fusion power source.
other sources that may be needed for the mission might include: asteroids (metals, nickle, or even just rocks), Titan (ice), Triton (nitrogen, metal and ice), Pluto (methane). ice may be the fuel for a fusion reactor and oxygen for inhabitants of planet. nitrogen, for air, misc processes, chemicals. metals should be obvious. methane, provide more hydrogen for fuel, but carbon as well for building materials, electronics etc. rocks can be an inexpensive building material for structures, aggregate for concrete, tough surfacing etc.

of course if all this is too complex or extreme, just accelerate our sun, and stay along for the ride. Solar shield star drive method mentioned in previous article. with proper sling-shot techniques we can be traveling at 1/3 light speed (see previous article)

I'd tap that.

On topic, they need to make some advancement on nanomachines. They need something to maintain body function, and to improve endurance in space. More importantly, more women than men on board ^3^.

Most you guys are insane, LOL. Really, moving the solar system? Nano-machines? Why can't people envision with what has been proven and is being proven today instead of going off into fantasy land some 100-1000 years in the future?

NONE of that is needed, and none of that will come to play till a VERY VERY LONG TIME. Moving the sun around is something maybe we can do in 1000 years time if we survive. Nano-machines are NOT needed to produce gravity or maintain body, artificial gravity is a REALITY, ever heard of centrifugal force?

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Centrifugal_force

Gravity Solved.

Body maintenance will come down to preventing DNA degradation. I.e extending life-spans, this is something that can even be achieved within the next decade, whether it be only another 50years on your life or more no1 can truly say just yet.

If a spaceship could be built with a self-sustaining biosphere, then a trip with a multi-generation timeline could be possible.

The first generation astronauts would be responsible for initiating the journey, and then making babies.

The next few, several or many generations would be responsible for maintaining the ship and passengers during the journey. Their entire life would be spent on the ship during the journey.

The next generation completes the journey when they arrive at their destination. They will be responsible for completing (or continuing) their mission set for them by their great-great-grandparents.

Thanks,
-Tony

i like everyone's proposals...i agree that expanding humans life should be a major goal/factor. i heard a theory that large quantities of PURE oxygen prevent dna from decomposing and decaying. in a sense it should help humans live longer. chem trails and other deadly chemicals prevent us from living longer. tests have been done where plants in very oxygenated environments grow stronger, faster and bigger. maybe nano machines combined with pure oxygen can do something. in the bible moses and other figures lived to be 1000s of years old i think. maybe the bible got that right.

"religion is like a prison for the seekers of wisdom"

-Killah Priest

Oxygen causes oxidation and decay, particularly of the brain.

A generational ship may seem ideal but its very impractical. Life extension is in the manipulation of DNA, partly if not largely by reducing its shortening such as the Telemere region.

Aging from my understanding of it is a result of DNA information being lost, and the body having to continuously compensate for this reduced information, resulting in the appearance of aging / organ defects / and increases in free radicals which cause cancer.

There has been more advancements in the THEORY of aging then what most people realise. I was talking to a 24yr old the other day who believed aging was linked in with scar tissue, however scars and skin regeneration is a regenerative process in itself.

A much larger study needs to be done (of all ages). Maybe I will get through my biology degree(s) one day to understand it more first hand.

For humans to make a 100 year journey and still be able to experience the end of the trip a stasis chamber would need to be created. Not cryogenics. But in a state of almost an induced Coma state at which would slow the body's natural functions to a crawl but still be supplied nutrients for survival and the bare minimum of respiratory and circulatory functions. This could be achievable no doubt but need a strong medical based research project on developing such a hibernation chamber. If the medical field can research and succesfully create something like this even in baby steps the effects on the world if economically available to the public would be tremondous. Even if the average household had just 1 of which a family of four took turns throughout the week spending several hours up to a full day of use, it could dramatically increase lifespans on earth.

Aside from that in order to effectively build such a craft to make a journey in my opinion it would be best to build it either at an orbital station or on the moon where a launch wouldn't be exactly necessary and the size wouldn't be limited to the launch vehicles capacity. First need to setup a construction yard on the moon if moon based and have autonomous minig craft hit up the asteroid belt and start strip mining some of those free floating rocks for minerals to be brought back to the moon and placed into a foundry. Just the beginning, and I would expect this project once started to take upwards of 10-20 years to fully construct such a craft that could be suitable.

hello???
JUST FYI
missions like this are MULTI GENERATIONAL SHIPS!!!

and about moving solar systems...
on star trek... the ships did move at warp speed. they moved the universe around them at warp speed.

They created a bubbled that essential took them out of the space, and the warp engine "pushed" the universe around the ship. but the ship was static.

then again. I suppose in that case it is really relative.

From what I have read in the article,Ms Jemison will be leading a 100 year STUDY group. They will be STUDYING ways to do interstellar travel. All this is a massive thought experiment, theoretical reasearch, to see which ideas are the most pratical. The main thing to worry about is whether our politicians will allow continuos funding for this group over its 100 year lifespan.

And just to point out the obivous, the first person to do anything is always a big deal ( first man in space, first woman in space [both Russian], first American man in space, first American woman in space [sixty -odd years later], first Black man in space, first Israeli in space, first Hispanic in space, first Asian in space, etc )