• When a distinguished but elderly #scientist 👨🔬 states that something is #possible, they are almost certainly right. When they state that something is #impossible, they are very probably #wrong.
• The only way of discovering the #limits of the #possible is to venture a little way past them into the #impossible.
• Any sufficiently #advanced#technology is indistinguishable from #magic.
Reminds me of the 1973 movie Sleeper. In the future, scientists are amused that way back in the 1970s scientists were so deluded that they thought eating red meat and chain smoking cigarettes was bad for one's health. Which was exactly the opposite of the future scientists knew to be true.
When the great British explorer George Mallory was asked in 1924 why he wanted to climb #MountEverest 🏔️, he replied, “because it’s there.” It sounds silly, but the challenge of what is there that we have not yet managed to conquer will always have a special attraction for humans. The thirst to be the first to conquer a challenge is one of the main factors that defines our species. We want to know what’s out there. And #space 🌌 ... is there. https://english.elpais.com/opinion/the-global-observer/2023-05-31/a-gold-rush-in-space.html
@spaceflight ah. I was looking at the picture, it looked a lot larger. Reading deeper. That 3.4m is just the plasma chamber. It is surrounded by magnetic and cooling coils which probably push it over 10m total width
But something similar could surely be designed to fit in starship.
@spaceflight unless there is some good reason to believe that microgravity research will advance fusion significantly, it's probably better done here on earth. Access to tools, material, personnel, and power is much better.
@SkipHuffman would have to be done by #SpaceRobot with #SBSP (and probably #3dPrinted parts). If #AsteroidMining were already developed, material would also be available. AFAIK the reactor needs a minimum size, so an experiment aboard a #SpaceStation wouldn't be an option. Outside the bots would have the advantage they don't need a #Spacesuit, oxygen or sleep
@spaceflight Also: "Any sufficiently advanced technology is indistinguishable from a rigged demo." That can happen even when the demo actually flies. (Yes, Ares 1-X, I remember you.)
@spaceflight So according to Clark, basicly nothing is impossible if you are "advanced" enough in the timeline. That's why I don't like 20. cen Sci-fi, except Huxley and Asimov.
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