Posted on 09/15/2021 3:52:20 PM PDT by American Number 181269513
We’re about 20 years behind where we should be
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Since 1964 when they killed Project Orion : “Mars by 1965, Saturn by 1970”. So working on over 55 years and still not to the first milestone.
FWIW:
The landing barge, Just Read The Instructions’ name was taken from Iain M Banks Culture Series book, “Player of Games”. The Ship is a General Contact Unit, Medium System Vehicle, River Class, larger than 20km. Player of Games takes place in 2083 AD.
General Contact Units (GCUs) are fast, independent, general-purpose vessels which the Culture’s Contact group uses for diplomacy, espionage, subversion and sabotage. The Culture has no policy of non-interference and, to the contrary, often tries to change the course of civilizations of whose behavior it disapproves or which it considers in need of advancement.
GCUs typically have a crew of Contact members, numbering around 300. GCUs’ Minds are sometimes somewhat eccentric.
In the early stages of a conflict, GCUs are able to act as warships until GOU and ROU types become available. Because the Culture is more advanced than most other spacefaring civilizations, GCUs are usually very effective in combat.
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