Reply #32: Space travel will finally reach the expectations of science fiction. [View All]

[sofa king]

Here's something we're already close to realizing: a solar-system wide communications network.

That's the framework of a solar-system wide economy. I think that well within 150 years there will be a huge industry in traveling out to the Kuiper Belt to recover large icy objects and return them to the inner solar system where the water and volatiles will be used to sustain human life throughout the solar system. And Earth won't be in control of that economy, either.

A lucky few might be able to launch their own tour of the solar system within a couple decades or less. I'm pretty sure I know how to do it for about 150 million bucks, so if you've got that kind of money, let me know. We'll see the rings of Saturn by 2030.