Re: construction times...

Mike Elliott wrote:
>While the comparisons with WWII era ships is useful up to a point, I
don't
>think it stands up to the extent that Hal has described. If you compare
our
>present space technology with say the naval technology of the 15th or
16th 
>century then space craft are a _lot_ smaller. The space shuttle only
has a 
>crew of 5, Apollo had only 3. Compared to the ships of Columbus thats 
>pretty small.
>
>I therefore have no problem in the spaceships in FT being a _lot_
smaller 
>than the equivalent WWII ships.
>
>Automation takes the place of people and doesn't require life support
systems, 
>receation space and so on.

I always thought of it as the opposite.  In space the distances are
greater
and would require larger, more efficient and self-sustaining systems
than
today.	I agree that crew size might be smaller, but systems would
probably
require more space like fuel tankage, engines, sensors, redundant
systems, etc.

Mike Miserendino