I really really hated the President in that book!

The structure was not designed to handle any acceleration beyond minor adjustments. The amount of retrofitting required to handle the kinds of acceleration needed for interplanetary hops would greatly exceed the cost of all-new construction.

Isn't there a Jupiter/Moon conjunction happening?

You just need enough explosives set in a straight line around earth and, dont detonate them all at once, but, detonate them such that the shockwave is additive with every subsequent explosive, you'll crack the earth in two

Given human physiology is utterly useless for long term space travel and the ISS would probably shake apart under the thrust needed to send it anywhere at a decent pace, then nah it's fantasy.

Sure, and with present tech (and a hundred billion dollars), we could get the ISS up to a velocity that might reach Mars just a few years after all its life support failed :-)

Damn, I hate those late night muskrat collisions.

Time to look up and join your university amateur astronomy club.

It's totally made up. Pure fabrication

Fantasy and no, the ISS structurally could not withstand sufficient rotation to create useful gravity.

Project Orion would be a comparatively more practical interplanetary vessel, and the propulsion in Orion is best described “external nuclear pulse detonation” which gives you an idea of how practical converting the ISS would be.

Excellent job doing this with this gear.

it does sadden me to know that I was born too early for potential space exploration. Treasure Planet gave me an impossible dream, tis a tragedy

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Solar energy would still work on Callisto, though, like you say, it would be weak. But all the hydrogen fuel you need is right there on the surface...

It would be cheaper to send up all new modules and build from scratch. The poor old ISS is getting really old, many systems are at end of life, there are cracks in some vital areas, and nothing in it was designed to handle spin.

The ISS has a terribly problematic cooling system. Sad, but I dont see any long term future for it.

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The universe is under no obligation to make sense to you.

• Neil deGrasse Tyson

>Is it a feasible idea, or just fantasy?

Complete fantasy.

You should read Seveneves by Neal Stephenson. ISS gets turned into a ship and they create artificial gravity. Great book. Underrated and underread.

And the moon blows up

Economics are the only realistic reason. Imagine a huge deposit of uranium is discovered near the surface on Callisto, easily mined. That would create an industry around the effort, which, due to distance, would create colonization.

Economics, mining specifically, are the only reason we will spread out into the solar system. Other than a scientific probe here and there....

The effects of dark matter have been observed through a variety of effects across a vast array of scales, from galaxies, to galaxy clusters, to the cosmic microwave background.

I agree 100%. Callisto gets less radiation than the Earth does.

Robotic craft could also mine the other Jovian moons for raw materials, possibly including hydrocarbons.

It's an excellent vantage point for deep-space observations and close-up study of Jupiter and its other moons. The only real challenge is energy. Solar is way too weak out there.

One day, maybe in my lifetime but I doubt it, we'll take these pics and see twinkling lights looking back at us.

For exploratory purposes seems like a waste of money and time. Scout drones , ships would pick up habitable places. Build ships on a station to send out. I mean if you eventually have the chance to colonize a habitable planet you're gonna need a lot of resources.