Martin Beech has written a superb summary of Alpha Centauri studies for the Royal Astronomical Society’s journal Astronomy and Geophysics, covering recent work up to and including the discovery of planet candidate Centauri B b. A fine holiday gift! I had been hoping to write it up this morning, but Christmas events, not least of which is the need for some last minute shopping, have made that impossible. So I’ll save this impressive work for later in the week. In the meantime, let me wish all Centauri Dreams readers best wishes for a joyous holiday season. See you in a few days.
http://www.dailykos.com/story/2012/12/24/1173551/-Merry-SpaceXmas-SpaceX-Test-Launches-10-Story-Grasshopper-12-Stories-High-Lands-Vertically
Some fund SpaceX Tests and Video for the Holiday
Jan 2013 National Geograpic Features….Interstellar Travel too
Paul, centauri-dreams has been one of my daily reads since I found it. I appreciate the work you do here. Thanks. Happy Holidays.
Thank you Paul. May you have a Merry Christmas.
It would be a good project for 2013 to get some kind of “standard starship model” to discuss; one that everyone can understand and learn from and also use as a starting point from which to theorize on more advanced designs.
I propose the Bernal Sphere as a generation ship decellerated by hydrogen bombs. The diameter needs to be explored but it would probably be in the range of several miles. Construction would take place at the lunar lagrange using Lunar Solar Power to melt and shape the sphere- inflating it like blowiing glass being the idea.
Partially filled with water, spun for one gravity on the inner surface at the equator, and sent on it’s way by a beam propulsion system also using Lunar Solar Power.
From this standard model advances in technology can be extrapolated.
Best Wishes to You as well.
Hopefully New Year will bring a lot of new discoveries, and the next Kepler results should start showing up around 8th January I believe.
Kind regards.
Paul, thanks for a great year’s worth of articles and I look forward to many more. Merry Christmas!
Paul, thank you for the great mental stimulation and great reads throughout the year. I really appreciate the time you spend on, and the quality of your articles. I can’t wait to read your articles about the wonderful new discoveries coming our way in 2013. Happy Holidays and Merry Christmas!
My favorite website for a long time already.
Paul, I wish you and all CD friends here very happy end restfull holidays.
Thanks to all of you for the kind words. And all best for the coming year!