Rocket fuel is cheap. That isn't and never was what made flight to orbit expensive...

Yeah. Precious few damn options for their progeny there...

"Although Wiktionary says that the plural of solar system is indeed "solar systems." "

Stepford Newscasters...?

Of course, CNN once had a classic gaffe...

Yeah, like everyone understands and agrees with all religious terminology...

"Yes, there's only one Solar system because there's just one star called Sol, namely the Sun."

Okay, someone's gotta say it...

But they had the benefit of initial ignorance:

You're both...right.

It's uncomfortable, it should make everyone squirm...but you could well be right.

"Let's be honest. Rejuvenation is sure to be a tremendously expensive process and it's possible that only the super rich will regenerate"

Looks like they still have those legendary salt mines still running...

In 10-20 years, we'll wonder why some people were so worried about (or praying for a new 'space race' because of) China...

Probably many thousands of years, left to itself. Certainly long enough to actively maintain. It's not nearly so unstable as to be swept away in a short time, any more than it was originally.

""You might ask for a little input from the rest of humanity on that... "

Robert L. Forward's 'Martian Rainbow.' (1991)

"...a 10km asteroid hitting the Earth today could flatten some cities but wouldn't end many species' existence "

"I like Option X: Sit back, and watch it hit. We had a good run. Frankly, humanity isn't really worth that much effort to save."

#4: The Rolling Stones were right ('Start Me Up')...