From: Spike Jones (spike66@attglobal.net)
Date: Sun Feb 17 2002 - 14:36:33 MST
Harvey Newstrom wrote:
> Spudboy100@aol.com quoted,
> > http://www.newscientist.com/news/news.jsp?id=ns99991936
> > "Magic number" for space pioneers calculated
>
> This entire article is unsupported. It clearly acknowledges the possibility
> of using sperm banks to maintain genetic diversity...
I too dismissed the article as having too little creative thought.
Why sperm banks? Better to maintain genetic diversity would
be embryo banks. They could be maaany generations into
the mission before the colony produced any two persons who
were genetically related.
Before I take seriously any multigeneration scheme, I want to
see what they propose for an energy storage mechanism. Chemical
sources would likely be way insufficient to store adequate
energy. Fission sources, altho problematic in many ways,
are likely the most practical for the long haul.
In comparison to the energy problem, maintaining genetic
diversity over millenia is trivial.
spike
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