----------- HULL SYSTEMS and PROBLEMS----------------- ++With the gas and dust in interstellar space. ++Tenuous gas with a density on the order of one nuclear particle per cubic centimeter. ++30000 km^3 of interstellar space would barely fill a thimble. ++37mg/cm^3. ++Interstellar gas also creates a radiation hazard. ++This ice could form the outer layers of a ship, active electrostatic or EM shields , ++Traveling at relativistic velocities, collisions w/ micrometeoroids, little craters are gouged n the hull, erode away passive shields several meters thick. ++High intensity beam of short wave radiation projected in front ++Ionized plasma could then be shunted out of the way by active radiation shields. ++First phase, heavy freighters, robotic and will carry everything needed to colonize and terraform a new star system.