Improve the space program such that interplanetary travel includes this ship by 2018.

[M79]

For those familiar with Star Trek I've posted links to the Botany Bay, for those unfamiliar - with a POD of no earlier than 1900 advance space travel such that by 2018 a ship of these capabilities (in theory launched by six to eight heavy rockets attached to the rear of the ship) without the suspended animation is in space and exploring at least the star system by 2018. If that's too easy, then can a DY-100 be in space by 1990 with a DY-200 class in orbit by 2021?

Coming Soon | Star Trek

www.startrek.com

DY-100 Class - Specs

www.ditl.org

https://www.cygnus-x1.net/links/lcars/blueprints/sdy-dy-100a/cover.jpg

DY class

The DY class is a family of spacecraft designs used by Earth throughout the 21st century and 22nd century. First developed in secret during the 1980s and early 1990s by the Dyson-Yoyodyne Corporation, the DY-100 subclass was intended for use in long-term manned missions to Mars and the Jovian...

stexpanded.fandom.com

 

[Orcot]

A warpstorm passes trough the solar system at the same moment a tachyon hot spot erupt in a blind spot for the time police the USS Dyson_yoyodyne was under a vector of exactly 33,28° sending it to our time. Adrift between Earth and the moon for a NACA scientist detects the craft afther some failed contact atempts they form NASA with the mission to make contact. By 1969 the contact the ship and begin reverse enginearing, by 2018 technology has advanced to the point that they could

 

[Riain]

What on it hasn't had a germ of actual truth?

IIUC nuclear electric rockets have had some sort of rudimentary research and testing, and launching big things was old hat by 1970.

 

[Not James Stockdale]

All you need is a reason to keep spending money after Apollo ended. Curtis LeMay wanted space battleships for Strategic Air Command, but those would have been 4 or 10 kiloton Orion battleships, not a ~1 kiloton (6-8 launches) freighter. The NASA Design Reference Missions always split up payloads into double-laumch (payload and propulsion module) ships at about 200 - 300 tons, even when they were transitting to Mars in the same Hohman window, because that gives you better redundancy and flexibility.

Personally, I think the interplanetary transportation network is going to look more like tugboats pushing barges around than ocean-going freighters. Unmanned propulsion modules operating out of maintenance bases will shuttle around unpowered trailers or barges full of freight.

 

[ivanotter]

There are real technologies available. Using electric power (like in a railgun) is possible to upscale. It is freight to begin with as there will be some 20G load on it. There are serious considerations on this one letting it accelerate up a mountain side. Booster rockets might be used as well, but getting into escape velocity is surely within reach.

The next one is to get people into space.

Of course it has to be lower-cost and reliable.

That is where the space elevator comes into place. Impossible? actually not as it is probably the mode of getting people and freight up and down to the moon base. It is rather easy to do it at the moon.

So, soon (as Bigelow gets his space station into action) we will see:

Earth to space station: Space elevator
Space station to moon space station: not too difficult to build
Up and down to moon base: space elevator

From space statin to Mars space station: not too difficult either
Up and down to Mars: Space elevator

All of this is current technology. Yes, it will need to be upscaled.

The more 'fun' one is of course terraforming of Mars. I read somewhere that it can be achieved within 300-400 years.

Long time? Mayflower was 1620. Add 400 years = 2020. Just to play with numbers really

 

[Captain Oblivious]

Orion very nearly happened in 1962. Maybe you could have a POD here.

The Space Review: Starfleet was closer than you think

 

[Garrison]

Something like it could be built if research into nuclear propulsion continued and the DY-100 isn't a million lightyears away from the NASA Nautilus-X proposal:

 

[juanml82]

Suspended animation within this timeframe is, IMHO, ASB. Nuclear electric propulsion isn't. Make the USA less skeptic about nuclear power and it's a serious possibility.