Comment YES!!! This is exactly what I've been saying! (Score 2) 224
I have presented to several of my friends/coworkers/family the idea that interstellar space IS NOT the great void we seem to have been assuming for so long, but instead may well be filled with all manor of significant objects, including brown dwarfs, rogue planets, etc. We don't have to make some multi-lightyear jump across nothingness to reach the stars; we can jump from world to world to world, like a great migration wave-front, gathering resources and establishing waypoints as we go. It was an article in Analog SF magazine that got me thinking along these lines. It may take generations to reach the next major star, but at least there will be fun exploration along the way.