Here is a link that may be of interest:

http://cbsnews.com/news/spacex-super-heavy-starship-test-flight/

Exciting times ahead.

Thanks mhaze for the thread. Elon Musk does some great projects and he hasn't been cancelled yet. Dyson sphere's are Type 2 Civilization technology the new industrial age. With Dyson sphere's we can build space highways. Before long we'll have space elevators and mag launchers on mountains. And you thought the Suez Canal was a critical piece of global infrastructure.

"A “multi-planet species”. What garbage."

Wow!!. This character (ttbn) makes the Luddites look positively progressive. I wonder if he realises where the computer in front of him came from....how progress works.

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Paul asked: "Do you know if the Space Family Robinson ever did make it to Alpha Centauri aboard the Jupiter II.....and when will "Beam me up Scotty!" become a reality?"

In the first iteration of the TV series (late 1960's) they never got there. In the second, wholly crappie iteration(2020's) they did, only to find, surprise surprise, aliens who they had to fight. A travesty against the iconic 1960s version.

As to Teleportation beams, I once saw a Ted Talk which said that it was theoretically possible but that there would never be sufficient computing power in universe to do the calculations necessary to make it happen. So, never say never, but highly unlikely even in the 23rd century.

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"Dyson sphere's are Type 2 Civilization technology the new industrial age."

I don't think anyone's talking about a full Dyson sphere, at lest not this side of 2500AD. But partial spheres are a different thing and would utterly change all issues about energy. They would make arguments over wind/solar seem as puerile as Neandertals arguing over fire. Progress is governed by cheap energy. Space based energy capture through, first vast solar panels and later partial Dyson spheres, would utterly change the trajectory of humankind. It would allow the colonisation and habitation of every terrestrial planet and moon in the solar system, preparatory to moves out of our home sun.

The ramifications of what happened this month can hardly be exaggerated

Since the start of the industrial revolution, there have been a series of names that have been instrumental in moving humanity out of general poverty and into general wealth. To name a few:

Cartwright -power loom
Stephenson - steam engine
Bessemer - mass produced steal
Edison - telephone, phonograph, internal lighting etc etc
Ford - production line
Gates - personal computer
Jobs - mobile phone

But among them, the name Musk may well stand out as supreme - the forefront of the electric car, tunnelling break-throughs, democratising social media, Starlink. But clearly the most consequential is the space revolution. If things pan-out as expected in the next two decades, he will easily be seen as the most consequential inventor-entrepreneur since Edison and vastly more influential on mankind's future.

mhaze- I'm uncertain of your previous interactions with ttbn, perhaps you are a little frustrated, but ttbn's point of view is a common one with respect to space. There is a view that 'why do stuff in space when we have so many problems on Earth'. It's a commonly held view- I agree with your answer but I empathize with ttbn's. Even Carl Sagan believed that manned space exploration was ineffective- and believed that 'using robots' was better. The world is full of paradoxes. One of the paradoxes of space 1. it's hugely expensive 2. it's an enormous opportunity. In this case enormous trumps huge but someone has to front up the startup capital for a long return time frame usually the tax paying public. Different groups and countries have made tilt's at space at enormous cost over 70 years for little obvious benefit. Of course satellite communications are a definite benefit- but many would see fibre as more effective.

Dyson sphere's- I don't think we'd ever want a 'full' Dyson sphere, it's an aspirational concept not an outcome. Everything you've said here about Dyson sphere's seems pretty much 'very correct'- but I disagree with the implied universalist kumbaya stuff- also we'd need better rocket technology- probably pulse nuclear fusion rockets or similar. But Elon Musk's heavy rockets are definitely a huge step along the path. From memory there are about 150 million kilometres on average between the orbits of planets and some outer planets have periods of 200 Earth years.

Certainly the Moon, Mars, and the Asteroid Belt are candidates for exploration. The inner planets Venus and Mercury are probably too hot. They talk about "The Goldilocks Zone".

I've just read about NASA's Artemis Programme.

We're told that NASA wants to use Starship to put
astronauts back on the moon for the 1st time in more
than 50 years as part of the Artemis Programme.

Apparently in 2021 the US Space Agency awarded SpaceX
a $2.8bn contract for this mission, followed by an
additional $1bn agreement.

We're told that SpaceX has also set itself the goal
of getting humans to Mars. That one of SpaceX's stated
primary aims is to establish humans as a multiplanet
species as a precaution in case Earth becomes
uninhabitable.

"We're trying to build something that is capable of
creating a permanent base on the moon and a city on
Mars. That's why the Starship is so large." Musk
said in October.

"Otherwise we can make it much smaller."

Science-fiction becoming reality?