Actually, this brings up something that's been bugging me since the Miranda idea first got floated.
As I recall the original spec, the Miranda was put together by the Trekkies and the various SETI programs. Now, the Trekkies might be up for just blindly running off into deep space in a straight line - that sort of thing goes with the Trek mission, but the SETI guys? They're scientists, with a pretty specific area of study - extrasolar intelligence - and to do that, they've got a map.
The HabCat has 17,000 stars in it, each of which is considered a potentially habitable system. If they're looking for intelligent life (which given their involvement makes more sense than the current mission as stated) then they've already got 17,000 targets to choose from.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
As I recall the original spec, the Miranda was put together by the Trekkies and the various SETI programs. Now, the Trekkies might be up for just blindly running off into deep space in a straight line - that sort of thing goes with the Trek mission, but the SETI guys? They're scientists, with a pretty specific area of study - extrasolar intelligence - and to do that, they've got a map.
The HabCat has 17,000 stars in it, each of which is considered a potentially habitable system. If they're looking for intelligent life (which given their involvement makes more sense than the current mission as stated) then they've already got 17,000 targets to choose from.---
Mr. Fnord
http://fnord.sandwich.net/
http://www.jihad.net/
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"