Hey knowing the most optimal way to stack boxes and stuff is still good to know.
Quite so. Plus, a lot of the work that goes into the ICS is going to be about
tracking goods and optimizing them. I imagine a surprising amount of the software that goes into the global logistics
management system will still be relevant in the portal era, simply because it makes it a lot easier to coordinate movement around and reprogramming it to recognize that there now exists a mechanism for rapidly moving a shipping container from A to B in ten milliseconds is easy-ish-ish.
Yeah, the portals bigger than a pinhole are still expensive as fuck. On the other hand, FTL comms are going to be immediately available and that's incredibly fucking bullshit.
True to an extent. It lets you easily operate a drone on Mars from a base on Earth, for example. On the other hand, we don't actually have that much presence outside the Earth-Moon system for purposes where light speed lag is much of a problem,
aside from applications like "tele-operate a drone on Mars or in the asteroid belt from a base on Earth."
It does mean that we have more incentive to actually send expeditions out to Mars and the asteroids because we
can coordinate extensive drone operations out there from a base on Earth. So one project that gets promoted to higher priority is the
Conestoga-class. Because we can now think much more easily about setting up sizeable bases on Mars or stations in the asteroid belt that will be assembled by drones coordinated from a "hub" satellite/station/base that has a tiny portal connection back to Earth for the Wifi signal...
But the main obstacle in establishing such bases is physically getting them out there, and having only one G-drive ship for the purpose is a pain in the ass. So we need the
Conestogas as soon as practicable, which is a damn good argument for spending some Free dice to finish up our Plan commitments in space sooner, so that we can afford to work on the
Conestogas some time in 2061 when we have the RpT budget to seriously consider doing it.
...
(Though I'm still hoping that we can develop a second-generation set of
fusion rocket craft that don't require STUs to manufacture and are capable of continuous low-acceleration burns. This would be an acceptable substitute to the G-drive for non-urgent 'space freighter' operations. We
have continuous cycle fusion reactors on Earth, so hopefully this technology is just gated behind superconductor fabricators and some time. But that, too, requires us to be able and willing to spend 30 R/die on a major project, so see above)
