Some thoughts on CI and physical exploration...
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Cathy: so are there other questions you would like to ask?
Maico Tange: Yes, there is a question that I think a lot of people had… while Catgirl Industries spawned a number of different places in the ten years since you started them, why is there no exploration branch?
Cathy: oh, I think we are exploring a lot of things… I hope you have read the writeup on reputation based societies the Labs published last week? Or do you mean extrasolar exploration?
Maico Tange: I mean moving out and looking for new places out there in the galaxy.
Cathy: I think there always have been a small fraction within Catgirl Industries interested in exploration of space, but we are also a very social group that likes the usual comfort. Most of us don't want to spend a year in a tin can with only a dozen people to talk to.
Maico Tange: so you say Catgirl Industries will not be joining the groups of explorers out there?
Cathy: thats not what I meant. If you look closely at the large scale things we built, most of them are mobile and could be self-sufficient if we would try harder. Jenga has been a mobile space station since 2017 and even the Normandy has been designed for long range independent flight.
Maico Tange: but?
Cathy: but it took time to get the self-sufficient part really done. If a part of Catgirl Industries move out to start exploring the universe, we will not send a single spaceship out there… we will split of a part of our space stations, add a more redundant drive system and move out with a group of at least a hundred catgirls. And it will still take a few years of growth to get enough explorers interested.
Maico Tange: so you expect an expedition in the near future?
Cathy: I would say I expect it within the next decade. We need something that is robust enough to survive the long journey, that has the capability to repair and rebuilt everything inside and that has additional room for children. We have a few plans on the drawing boards, but I would not expect any prototyping before 2030. But we are trying to lure in the ESA for a small joined project at the moment.
Maico Tange: what kind of joined project?
Cathy: we want to built a pair of autonomous ships and sent them out on opposing vectors… one galactic North, one galactic South. The plan is to stop every six month for a few weeks and take a full sky survey, sending back the images to Jenga. If we can build ships that last a decade, we could get pictures of our galaxy from a distance of 5000 lightyears up and down. Think about it as the full star atlas for our galaxy and a good direct range estimation for the galaxies in the local group.
Maico Tange: Any plans when to start a project like this? Why not involve the Convention and get some sponsoring?
Cathy: maybe 2030, we don't know… as for the convention, lots of projects with one of the big groups get watered down, delayed or totally changed in committees. And we like the challenge to do it ourselves.
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Cathy: so are there other questions you would like to ask?
Maico Tange: Yes, there is a question that I think a lot of people had… while Catgirl Industries spawned a number of different places in the ten years since you started them, why is there no exploration branch?
Cathy: oh, I think we are exploring a lot of things… I hope you have read the writeup on reputation based societies the Labs published last week? Or do you mean extrasolar exploration?
Maico Tange: I mean moving out and looking for new places out there in the galaxy.
Cathy: I think there always have been a small fraction within Catgirl Industries interested in exploration of space, but we are also a very social group that likes the usual comfort. Most of us don't want to spend a year in a tin can with only a dozen people to talk to.
Maico Tange: so you say Catgirl Industries will not be joining the groups of explorers out there?
Cathy: thats not what I meant. If you look closely at the large scale things we built, most of them are mobile and could be self-sufficient if we would try harder. Jenga has been a mobile space station since 2017 and even the Normandy has been designed for long range independent flight.
Maico Tange: but?
Cathy: but it took time to get the self-sufficient part really done. If a part of Catgirl Industries move out to start exploring the universe, we will not send a single spaceship out there… we will split of a part of our space stations, add a more redundant drive system and move out with a group of at least a hundred catgirls. And it will still take a few years of growth to get enough explorers interested.
Maico Tange: so you expect an expedition in the near future?
Cathy: I would say I expect it within the next decade. We need something that is robust enough to survive the long journey, that has the capability to repair and rebuilt everything inside and that has additional room for children. We have a few plans on the drawing boards, but I would not expect any prototyping before 2030. But we are trying to lure in the ESA for a small joined project at the moment.
Maico Tange: what kind of joined project?
Cathy: we want to built a pair of autonomous ships and sent them out on opposing vectors… one galactic North, one galactic South. The plan is to stop every six month for a few weeks and take a full sky survey, sending back the images to Jenga. If we can build ships that last a decade, we could get pictures of our galaxy from a distance of 5000 lightyears up and down. Think about it as the full star atlas for our galaxy and a good direct range estimation for the galaxies in the local group.
Maico Tange: Any plans when to start a project like this? Why not involve the Convention and get some sponsoring?
Cathy: maybe 2030, we don't know… as for the convention, lots of projects with one of the big groups get watered down, delayed or totally changed in committees. And we like the challenge to do it ourselves.