After the entirety of the solar system had been investigated, human exploration was still not sated.  The desire to press on drove the development of a new division of space travel.  When technology had been adequately developed, the building of a new ship began.  The station orbiting around Pluto was selected as the base of operations.  After several years of tests and trial runs, the ship named the Daedelus was finally set to sail onward into the dangers of deep space.<br/><br/>A crew was selected from some of the brightest and boldest from all of the colonies. The ship itself was made to be self-sustaining, as was the populace on board.  It was estimated that the 150 crew members should continue to be able to reproduce normally for roughly two thousand years.  It was unknown how long it would take this group to reach a new location suitable for establishment of a colony like the one on Mars, but theoretically if they hadn't found such a place within 800 years of searching they should be able to return.<br/><br/>In order to limit the exposure to radiation as well as to prolong the lives of the initial explorers, the first stage of the trip was to occur with all aboard in hibernation.  The Hyber-pods would keep them in stasis for the first 100 years of their trip, allowing them to pass safely through much of the empty space between galaxies.  An additional safety procedure was included that if an issue arose, certain key individuals could be automatically awakened by the specialized system to deal with the problem. If a response was not received within the allotted time, the back-up personnel would be set free, and so on down the line.This thus ensured that no mere mechanical malfunction could decimate the ship's populace.  And so prepared, the adventurous group set off to find new worlds for humanity.