4 ms·

> In a mere 60 years, we of Earth have gone from launching our first spacecraft, to exploring every planet and major moon in our solar system, to establishing a

by aerique 11y ago

> In a mere 60 years, we of Earth have gone from launching our first spacecraft, to exploring every planet and major moon in our solar system, to establishing an international, long-lived fleet of robotic spacecraft at the Moon and Mars. Put like that it's pretty impressive. A lot of people, including me, tend to focus on humans in space and on other planetary bodies so think look a bit grim from that perspective. We're doing pretty well exploring our solar system. I wonder how the jump to other solar systems is going to be once we're 'done' here.

Already__Taken 11y ago
For the foreseeable future that's is going to look like a permanently sustainable space colony that just happens to be travelling towards another system. Given the timescales involved.
- hga 11y ago
  The Generation Ship: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship
- ansible 11y ago
  The issue is that it takes a ridiculous amount of energy to transport even 1kg of matter from one solar system to another in a reasonable amount of time. We're more likely to upload our minds and run them on a small and energy efficient computing substrate. After seeding a new solar system with appropriate infrastructure, we can then just transmit ourselves from place to place.
IndianAstronaut 11y ago
>We're doing pretty well exploring our solar system. I wonder how the jump to other solar systems is going to be once we're 'done' here. We can reallydo a lot more in our current exploration. Ideally we would have a permanent human presence on the moon and Mars if budgets kept up. Also a good exploration of Europa, Titan and other moons. As of now we do not have the ability to travel to another solar system in a human lifetime and the technology to do so doesn't even seem possible. No hints at near light speed travel, let alone faster than light.
- manmal 11y ago
  There might be no need for faster-than-light travel because time passes very slowly for near-lightspeed travellers. They just can't expect to see their friends again once they return.
- Grishnakh 11y ago
  It's absolutely possible to travel to another star system in a human lifetime. (BTW, there's no such thing as "another solar system": there is only one Solar system, and that's our own. It's called that because our star is called "Sol", hence "Solar". Other systems are "star systems".) The tech doesn't exist now, but it could with antimatter propulsion. Basically, you just need to create a large spacecraft which can accelerate continuously at 1g. Then, you point the craft to Alpha Centauri and accelerate at 1g for half the distance, then spin around and decelerate at 1g for the second half. With 1g acceleration, you don't need artificial gravity. And the trip should take less 4 years from what I read here: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=reb6mf99h3i7m8lvj9idsnvmu5&topic=34996.msg1217547#msg1217547 https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=reb6mf... The occupants of the trip will actually achieve apparent faster-than-light travel! (Alpha Centauri is almost 5ly distant.) Relativistic dilation at work. Of course, the problem is the huge amount of energy needed. But if they could achieve 0.1g acceleration, it's much less and the trip is still only 13 years; for 0.01g, it's 41 years, still within a human lifetime though a bit much. But that might even be possible with nuclear propulsion. So, in summary, it's absolutely possible to travel to other star systems within a human lifetime, as far as physics is concerned. However, building antimatter drives and obtaining enough antimatter fuel for the trip seems pretty impractical, and also unlikely that anyone will want to expend the resources to do that. But if you accept much lower acceleration, and combine that with cryogenic technology ("suspended animation") so that people don't need to age during the trip, it might be doable. But it'd be a one-way trip most likely, since everyone the passengers knew on Earth would be dead when they got back, unless of course we eliminate aging.
  - IndianAstronaut 11y ago
    >BTW, there's no such thing as "another solar system": there is only one Solar system, and that's our own. It's called that because our star is called "Sol", hence "Solar". Other systems are "star systems".) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/solar-system http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/solar-system >Basically, you just need to create a large spacecraft which can accelerate continuously at 1g. Then, you point the craft to Alpha Centauri and accelerate at 1g for half the distance, then spin around and decelerate at 1g for the second half. With 1g acceleration, you don't need artificial gravity. And the trip should take less 4 years from what I read here: You would need a colossal amount of energy to maintain that acceleration. I would believe 8 years, but the system is already 4 light years away.
AnimalMuppet 11y ago
It keeps up if you go further back, too. In 100 years and two months, we went from the first transcontinental railroad to the first man on the moon. But as the financial people say, "Past performance is no guarantee of future results".
7952 11y ago
> focus on humans in space and on other planetary bodies so think look a bit grim from that perspective. In our imagination we focus on landing somewhere, but this seems a bit short sighted. We expend all that energy leaving one gravity well to end up at the bottom of another. But the act of living and travelling through space is exploration in its own right and hugely inspirational. And if you do want humans to live on another planet then learning how to function in space is a necessity. Why not focus on making space stations that are as self sustaining as possible?

by aerique 11y ago

Already__Taken 11y ago

For the foreseeable future that's is going to look like a permanently sustainable space colony that just happens to be travelling towards another system. Given the timescales involved.

hga 11y ago
The Generation Ship: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Generation_ship
ansible 11y ago
The issue is that it takes a ridiculous amount of energy to transport even 1kg of matter from one solar system to another in a reasonable amount of time. We're more likely to upload our minds and run them on a small and energy efficient computing substrate. After seeding a new solar system with appropriate infrastructure, we can then just transmit ourselves from place to place.

IndianAstronaut 11y ago

>We're doing pretty well exploring our solar system. I wonder how the jump to other solar systems is going to be once we're 'done' here. We can reallydo a lot more in our current exploration. Ideally we would have a permanent human presence on the moon and Mars if budgets kept up. Also a good exploration of Europa, Titan and other moons. As of now we do not have the ability to travel to another solar system in a human lifetime and the technology to do so doesn't even seem possible. No hints at near light speed travel, let alone faster than light.

manmal 11y ago
There might be no need for faster-than-light travel because time passes very slowly for near-lightspeed travellers. They just can't expect to see their friends again once they return.
Grishnakh 11y ago
It's absolutely possible to travel to another star system in a human lifetime. (BTW, there's no such thing as "another solar system": there is only one Solar system, and that's our own. It's called that because our star is called "Sol", hence "Solar". Other systems are "star systems".) The tech doesn't exist now, but it could with antimatter propulsion. Basically, you just need to create a large spacecraft which can accelerate continuously at 1g. Then, you point the craft to Alpha Centauri and accelerate at 1g for half the distance, then spin around and decelerate at 1g for the second half. With 1g acceleration, you don't need artificial gravity. And the trip should take less 4 years from what I read here: https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=reb6mf99h3i7m8lvj9idsnvmu5&topic=34996.msg1217547#msg1217547 https://forum.nasaspaceflight.com/index.php?PHPSESSID=reb6mf... The occupants of the trip will actually achieve apparent faster-than-light travel! (Alpha Centauri is almost 5ly distant.) Relativistic dilation at work. Of course, the problem is the huge amount of energy needed. But if they could achieve 0.1g acceleration, it's much less and the trip is still only 13 years; for 0.01g, it's 41 years, still within a human lifetime though a bit much. But that might even be possible with nuclear propulsion. So, in summary, it's absolutely possible to travel to other star systems within a human lifetime, as far as physics is concerned. However, building antimatter drives and obtaining enough antimatter fuel for the trip seems pretty impractical, and also unlikely that anyone will want to expend the resources to do that. But if you accept much lower acceleration, and combine that with cryogenic technology ("suspended animation") so that people don't need to age during the trip, it might be doable. But it'd be a one-way trip most likely, since everyone the passengers knew on Earth would be dead when they got back, unless of course we eliminate aging.
- IndianAstronaut 11y ago
  >BTW, there's no such thing as "another solar system": there is only one Solar system, and that's our own. It's called that because our star is called "Sol", hence "Solar". Other systems are "star systems".) http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/solar-system http://dictionary.reference.com/browse/solar-system >Basically, you just need to create a large spacecraft which can accelerate continuously at 1g. Then, you point the craft to Alpha Centauri and accelerate at 1g for half the distance, then spin around and decelerate at 1g for the second half. With 1g acceleration, you don't need artificial gravity. And the trip should take less 4 years from what I read here: You would need a colossal amount of energy to maintain that acceleration. I would believe 8 years, but the system is already 4 light years away.

AnimalMuppet 11y ago

It keeps up if you go further back, too. In 100 years and two months, we went from the first transcontinental railroad to the first man on the moon. But as the financial people say, "Past performance is no guarantee of future results".

7952 11y ago

> focus on humans in space and on other planetary bodies so think look a bit grim from that perspective. In our imagination we focus on landing somewhere, but this seems a bit short sighted. We expend all that energy leaving one gravity well to end up at the bottom of another. But the act of living and travelling through space is exploration in its own right and hugely inspirational. And if you do want humans to live on another planet then learning how to function in space is a necessity. Why not focus on making space stations that are as self sustaining as possible?