First habitable exoplanet found: divert your hammers to spaceship parts: the space race is on!

[axi]

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Gliese_581_g

And it's only 20ly away. If we can reduce the trip time to 30-40 years, I bet there will be many volunteers.

Now let's get working on those fusion drives and stasis chambers!

[Zevico]

Wait a second. Just give me one more turn.

[Donegeal]

20 light years in 30-40 years time? No. Not this century. 20 light years in 70-100 years, maybe. Would take a multigenerational ship or hibernation; both of which are a long, long way off. Although I am sure you would still get lot of volunteers.

[Guynemer]

I'm not sure I'd call it habitable just yet. We know nothing of its atmospheric content; moreover, it rotates around the star so quickly that seasons will be meaningless; if life exists on that planet, it'd be nothing like what we know here.

[axi]

If by joining the mission the colonists secure an astronaut's pension for their parents and brethren, many people would join.

I would send 48 people in the mission; 24 men, 24 women, with 12 people running the ship at any time and the remaining 36 on stasis, in a yearly cycle. This means 4 people on duty at any time (8-hour shifts). 1 in 4 should be a doctor and 1 in 4 engineer.

[MOBIUS]

[MOBIUS]

Iif life exists on that planet, it'd be nothing like what we know here.

It's life Jim, but not as we know it...

[axi]

The planet's rotation should be in tidal lock with its rotation around the star (33,6 days). This means that the planet will have a permanent day side (too hot) and a permanent night side (too cold), but there will be a ring of eternal dusk that should be habitable.

[Al B. Sure!]

wow. this is an amazing discovery but there's nothing concrete yet. Only that it is in the 'goldilocks zone'.

[Al B. Sure!]

The planet's rotation should be in tidal lock with its rotation around the star (33,6 days). This means that the planet will have a permanent day side (too hot) and a permanent night side (too cold), but there will be a ring of eternal dusk that should be habitable.

According to Mass Effect 2, that would lead to brutal storms at the dusk area.

[DaShi]

And according to Futurama, it would be inhabited by hyper-intelligent cats.

[Guynemer]

I think ME2 is probably closer to reality in that regard. More's the pity.

[Al B. Sure!]

Well Mass Effect gave a reason for it... the hot and cold fronts would interact and create storms (I know nothing about meteorology to know if this is true). Actually, the planet I'm thinking of rotated such that the habitable zone would move along. There was another planet that had a static cold side and hot side but you couldn't land there. I remember reading it when I probed it.

[Elok]

I have a cat, and I would not trust any civilization run by the likes of her. I suggest the expedition's ship be heavily armed.

[MrFun]

So we have a planet that we can send extreme right-wingers and extreme left-wingers to, now.