That ship would have to be megatonnes of shielding and habitat. Consider that the article describes the entire energy output of North America being used to lau

That ship would have to be megatonnes of shielding and habitat. Consider that the article describes the entire energy output of North America being used to launch a dinky little probe like New Horizons. We're talking about a dozen orders of magnitude in energy technology needs. This is beyond "cold fusion" and into "cheap matter-energy conversion" like a cheap way to synthesize antimatter or something.