Is NASA Covering Up the 100-Year Starship? (just out), page 1

A NASA official may have made a 35-million-mile slip of the tongue.

The director of NASA's Ames Research Center in California casually let slip mention of the 100-Year Starship recently, a new program funded by the super-secret government agency, DARPA. In a talk at San Francisco's Long Conversation conference, Simon “Pete” Worden said DARPA has $1M to spend, plus another $100,000 from NASA itself, for the program, which will initially develop a new kind of propulsion engine that will take us to Mars or beyond.

There's only one problem: The astronauts won't come back.

The 100-year ship would leave Earth with the intention of colonizing a planet, but it would likely be a one-way trip because of the time it takes to travel 35 million miles. That’s a daunting prospect, partly because of the ethical dilemma, and partly because it may be the only recourse.

There's one other bizarre aspect to the plan: Humans would have to be “adapted” to the alien world, Worden said, instead of figuring out a way to make the planet more hospitable to them.

“The human space program is now really aimed at settling other worlds,” Worden said during his talk. “Twenty years ago you whispered that in dark bars and got fired.”

Since that revelation, hundreds of news reports about the program have theorized that the substantial budget indicates the Hundred Year Starship is a dramatic shift for the stalled space program, not just a research project; others suggest it is a serious attempt to find a way to Mars. And NASA? The space agency seems to be dodging all questions.

Worden may have slipped by revealing the program, but -- as evidenced by NASA’s lack of cooperation -- it may be too early for any new revelations.

1 million from Darpa? 100k from Nasa? What kind of engine is it, rubber bands and plastic sticks?

While I accept the fact that there may be a plan for a 100 year star ship, it seems to me that 1,100,000 dollars would not be nearly enough to develop the engine. And as far as not coming back from mars, it would be completely possible using the tech that we have now to go to mars and come back for people. If there was a station there, or a colony, you could stay several years and still come back. I don't think the problem with settling mars is the propulsion system of the rocket. I would say that the problem would lie providing enough space in the ship for the astronauts to live comfortably for the six month trip.

As far as colonizing other planets that are not in our solar system, then yes, you would need a star ship like the one proposed. Personally I think the answer lies in nano technology and understanding how to manipulate the self assembling process of matter. Let me cross my front legs, chew on some clover and meditate on it and I'll get baaaa-ck to you.