How close are we from DG and XR planes technology?

[teslax]

I really appreciate your response in this matter guys. I also thought that DG must be too good to be true.

The thing I'm worried about commercial space project is that, it won't be taken seriously in long term by ordinary investors. There are of course people that might be interested to pay large amount of funds just go to outer space even if they are only there shortly, or tech entrepreneurs like Elon Musk and co. But for inter-planetary travel and exploration? What can be the reasons to support such risky venture where the cost are expensive, the risk is high, and the profit is just not very promising?

 

[Codz]

Two words; Government Contracts. Essentially what SpaceX, Orbital Sciences, Sierra Nevada and several other space companies are doing.

 

[Keatah]

Materials Sciences and Propulsion will need to have major advances. Then you have to deal with politics and rules and regulations, and finances. A lot to overcome. Be aware the US doesn't have manned launch capability, and no one has an operational man-rated spaceplane.

Look on the bright side, computing power, sensors, communications and navigation are already more than sufficient. Actually real world electronics are way ahead of what's depicted in Orbiter. And as a bonus, they keep getting better.

To answer the OP's question directly, I'd say 60-90 years. Provided the political and financial environments are favorable.

 

[Urwumpe]

Look on the bright side, computing power, sensors, communications and navigation are already more than sufficient. Actually real world electronics are way ahead of what's depicted in Orbiter. And as a bonus, they keep getting better.

Even the radiation hardened electronics, that usually lag 10 years behind the earthly ones, are way more than Orbiter could even pretend to simulate.

The IBM RAD750 isn't exactly comparable to a consumer CPU (only 200 MHz clock rate, 266 MIPS) - but that alone is already hard to just emulate in Orbiter. If you then have 4 or more such CPUs for redundancy or parallel processing, you can forget it performance wise.

 

[N_Molson]

I'd say not before 200-300 years, provided we didn't turn the planet into a Venusian waste and avoid to atomize ourselves to the last proton. Those micro fusion generators are tricky stuff.