"We’ll Take One Microwave-Powered Starship, Please" Topic

"Author Allen Steele is best known for his Coyote series, which describes mankind's first interstellar voyage. He returns to that theme in his new novel Arkwright, about a famous science fiction writer who establishes a generation-spanning project to build the world's first starship. The story was inspired by the Starship Century conference, which discussed plans to achieve interstellar travel by the end of the century.

"They basically threw away the idea that interstellar travel is something where we have to wait until some exotic technology becomes available to us in the 23rd century," Steele says in Episode 194 of the Geek's Guide to the Galaxy podcast. "The conference was talking about near-term prospects for this."

The starship in Arkwright is propelled by microwave beams sent from an Earth-based satellite, an idea dreamed up by science fiction author Gregory Benford and his brother Jim.

"This particular proposal which Jim Benford and his company Microwave Sciences have come up with for microwave propulsion systems has it that, in theory, you could get a craft up to half the speed of light, at which point it would be possible to reach a star within about 20 to 30 light years from Earth in about half a century or so," says Steele…"
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Amicalement
Armand

As an added bonus, the astronauts could live on Hot Pockets for years.

and leave a trail of popcorn to find their way home!

We need at least two, for spaceship races, as well as to have a backup to rescue the other one, when there's a mechanical breakdown, since I don't trust the Alpha Centauri AAA Service.

Yep,and 50 years after they leave,FTL drive is discovered. They arrive to find a thriving civilization welcoming the "Ancient Ones".