The Pathway: Staged to Self-Sufficiency
Summary The pathway to Ceres is not a single mission. It is a sequence of stages each of which is independently justifiable on engineering and resource grounds, each of which demonstrates the feasibility of the next, and none of which requires commitment to the full sequence upfront. This is the same logic as Dreamtime — no civilisational commitment required, just the next defensible step authorised on evidence from the prior step. The difference is that Dreamtime’s steps are measured in decades and authorised by democratic institutions. The Ceres pathway is measured in decades too, but the authorisation question is simpler: whoever can reach the next stage will. The engineering is the argument. ...