Now that I think of it I agree. It would be much better to make a propulsion system that could take us to a neighboring solar system in a quick amount of time. For now it would take us to different planets in our solar system quicker, but that's a start. Joe --- Joe Bauman <bau@desnews.com> wrote:

I don't know the first thing about NASA's decision other than what this post said. But for general principles, I think new propulsion technology is vastly more valuable than repeat looks at the planets of this one measly solar system. -- Joe

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I hope no-one on this list thinks that interstellar, or even interplanetary travel will be common anytime soon. We have barely scratched the surface, so to speak, of space exploration, even in our own solar system. It's time to start taking samples, setting up permanent robotic or manned stations where possible, take the next step of doing science based on what we have learned so far. Advanced propulsion systems that will actually make a big engineering difference are decades to hundreds of years away. Interplanetary travel as a "tourist" industry is generations away. We won't live to see it as a commonplace event. Interstellar travel within the timespan of a human lifetime, if possible at all, is probably at least a thousand years away, barring a fundamental discovery on the nature of space and time (Zephram Cochrane, where are you?) I wish NASA would work on long-term projects. This short-term stuff (years to decades) is all just varaiations on a theme, much ado about nothing. We need to invest in projects that our great-grandchildren will finish. Instead we think in terms of what return we'll see during our careers. C. __________________________________________________ Do You Yahoo!? Send FREE Valentine eCards with Yahoo! Greetings! http://greetings.yahoo.com

Despite how I worded my original message, I agree. I do think that the most probable result of this research would be a Martian/Ionian/Titanian rover that could operate, barring accident, for at least a year or longer. I'm concerned about the weight of such a vehicle. I would hope it could speed up travel to the outer solar system by a year or two, but we'll have to see. Unfortunately, I find myself in agreement with Chuch's timetable, for the most part. dave --- Chris Russell <chris@therussells.net> wrote:

I think looking into better means of propulsion (with nuclear being the obvious first choice) goes a long way to improving explorer missions. So, I don't see this as "being at the expense of planetary missions", but rather as a sharpening the axe time, a time to improve future planetary missions.

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