Given the huge expense of a colony ship, likely in the gazillions of dollars (trillions would not be out of whack), the only people who can afford one will be governments or megacorporations. Probably a government. This list http://money.cnn.com/magazines/fortune/global500/2007/full_list/index.html of the fortune global 500 in 2007 has WalMart as the highest revenue (but relatively crappy profitability at only 3-4%) corporation on the planet, at just over 350 billion dollars. An aircraft carrier, with an air wing, crew of 6000 or so, no airtight systems like a starship, costs about ten billion dollars, for reference. The space shuttle, with a max crew of seven, cost about four billion...for reference.
Anyway, if you're talking government, you're probably going to want to crew with military...space navy tends to be the model. Either that, or a purely corporate hierarchy. Even so, when a mistake can kill everyone aboard, the need for strict rank structures for those who run the ship becomes obvious. Space is terribly unforgiving.
US Naval rank structure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy
Social structure on such a ship may be interesting, with crew and "passengers" not allowed to mix, for example. Or, if they are, certain crimes that endanger the entire ship would be punished rather harshly. One might imagine that if weapons existed that could puncture the hull, they'd naturally be banned.
Checking the Wiki here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship it would appear minimum crew for genetic diversity is only 160. Huh.
no subject
Anyway, if you're talking government, you're probably going to want to crew with military...space navy tends to be the model. Either that, or a purely corporate hierarchy. Even so, when a mistake can kill everyone aboard, the need for strict rank structures for those who run the ship becomes obvious. Space is terribly unforgiving.
US Naval rank structure: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/United_States_Navy
Social structure on such a ship may be interesting, with crew and "passengers" not allowed to mix, for example. Or, if they are, certain crimes that endanger the entire ship would be punished rather harshly. One might imagine that if weapons existed that could puncture the hull, they'd naturally be banned.
Checking the Wiki here http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship it would appear minimum crew for genetic diversity is only 160. Huh.