On 29 Jul 2014, at 09:30, "Leslie Bates (via tml list)" <nobody@simplelists.com> wrote:

As part of my current literary project my characters are staging a press conference where they announce that a neutron star will pass through the Solar System and that protagonist is designing a sublight starship to escape from the disaster.

As reporters what could be your questions.

When will it arrive?
What will it hit?
Will the Earth be destroyed?
How close will it pass to the Sun?
Do you have pictures?

Where is your ship going?
When will it get there?
When is it leaving?
How many people will it carry?

To be honest, the best use of the technology that can build your ship would be to install it a mile or so underground on Earth and build a survival module there. I'm not convinced that we could currently get 20 people to and from Mars safely or even just floating around the solar system for a few decades whilst the Earth was rendered uninhabitable and a good place to land/orbit stabilised.

Phil Kitching