<p><BR/>Replying to:<BR/><DIV CLASS='Discussion_PostQuote'>What then? Say we find a planet, and confirm that it is almost exactly like ours. What would the world's nations need to do? Is it even possible to go it alone, or only those with the will? What about all of our differences? Does this all need to come to fruition before we can even think about branching out? Keep in mind for discussion purposes that, it would be confirmed that we found another Earth like planet. The distance is imaterial at this point, but for the sake of argument, lets say it was within 100 light years.. Discuss! Tim- <br /> Posted by Hicup</DIV></p><p>OKay... Here goes... First, I'll assume that you're talking about a planet that is roughly the same mass and gravity of Earth. I'll also assume that it's confirmed that humans could inhabit the planet.</p><p>I think the Space Dudes already take it for granted that there are plenty of Earth <em>v2.0</em>'sout there. Otherwise, they prolly wouldn't have gotten those Space Degrees.</p><p>The general public? Come on. Unfortunately, I think their biggest concern is that their six pack gets cold enough by the time the NASCAR race starts. </p><p>Maybe if the Mother Of All Impactors was zeroed in on Earth and the other Earth was within 10 or 20 LY, everyone would pool their resources together and blast a fleet of Orions towards Humanity's next potential home. Barring that, we can't even launch an Orion due to UN Treaty nor can we build it in NEO, fuel it and launch.</p><p>It would maybe be easy to follow SF and expect Conglomo to set up a mining colony. But what if we get there andit's a metal-poor planet? What if we don't get there, period? Even if Conglomo DID get there successfully and found a planet full of Platinum, how is a 100 year transit back to Earth going to satisfy investors?</p><p>For the sake of argument, let's say that the UN is so juiced about this new Earth that they suspend the reaty prohibiting nukes in space. ANyone have any estimates on what it would cost to build 2 or 3 ships in orbit that were hundreds of meters long and weighed hundreds of thousands of tons? Not to mention ferrying up thousands of nuclear bombs.</p><p>I think that the discovery of "New Earths" will be cool sweet and curious, and even that it will start happening within 10 or 20 years on a regular basis. Will we bust our butts (internationally or unilaterally) to get there? Not likely at our current state of technology without extinction being the alternative, I think. </p><p> </p><p> </p> <div class="Discussion_UserSignature"> <em>"2012.. Year of the Dragon!! Get on the Dragon Wagon!".</em> </div>