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I doubt I'm alone in this, but I do find it simultaneously amusing and depressing how mind bogglingly big the universe (or even the galaxy) is. It's clear that

I doubt I'm alone in this, but I do find it simultaneously amusing and depressing how mind bogglingly big the universe (or even the galaxy) is. It's clear that discovering entirely new levels of physics will be necessary to stand a chance of going anywhere.

api 7y ago
Or extreme life extension, or fully digital AI. Life span is a big part of the problem. Personally I doubt that meat will go to the stars. Planets, sure, and maybe bases or settlements. The stars take too long.
TeMPOraL 7y ago
You're not alone. I grew up reading and watching a lot of sci-fi. Today I recognize that most of it was garbage in terms of physics, but I'm still saddened that the universe isn't that easy - we can't just hop on a space cruise ship and do a tour of a nearby nebula...
- pault 7y ago
  Going to Mars may be routine some day, though!
  - ekianjo 7y ago
    Just going to Mars will significantly increase your risk of cancer, unless we find smart ways to repair our genetic material as we go.
    - gambiting 7y ago
      Well, for the journey itself the problem has a simple solution - more shielding. Then of course we have to answer the question of how can we get ships into orbit when they are full of shielding, but that's not insurmountable. The bigger issue is actually living on mars - as romantic as that idea is, human habitation on the surface is really dumb, the radiation level is not insignificant, so anything long term would either have to be shielded or be under ground. And if we are going to build an underground colony....then why not start with one here on Earth?
      - cygx 7y ago
        Then of course we have to answer the question of how can we get ships into orbit when they are full of shielding, but that's not insurmountable. If regular travel becomes a reality, you wouldn't shield the launch vehicle, but the cycler[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_cycler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_cycler
        isostatic 7y ago
        The benefit of using a cycler rather than a ship that travels orbit-to-orbit is that there is no need to accelerate/decelerate the mass of the ship, just the perishables (people and provisions for the voyage) You would accelerate a small vessel (like a crew dragon or orion), intercept and dock with the much larger cycler, then enter the ship for your x-month trip. When you near mars, you get back into your dragon, and burn away from the cycler, entering into martian approach. 7 people in a Crew Dragon for 18-24 months would not be pleasant. 7 people in a flying space hotel would be far nicer. You could presumably look at using a small asteroid to provide the bulk of the "cycler", offering plenty of shielding for the trip, you'd only have to get it into position once - far less fuel requirement. My understanding though is Musk is planning on using BFR to go surface-to-surface, with maybe a refuel in earth orbit. I believe this is because of the amount of material that needs transporting to Mars for the first 20 years or so, and that mass can be used as useful shielding. Even if Mars becomes self sustaining and doesn't require a large amount of cargo:people ratio, I believe Musk is aiming for a much shorter transit time than 2 years.
        npongratz 7y ago
        > You could presumably look at using a small asteroid to provide the bulk of the "cycler", offering plenty of shielding for the trip, you'd only have to get it into position once - far less fuel requirement. Or maybe even something like, as some have suggested (not me!), Phobos: http://enterprisemission.com/Phobos.html http://enterprisemission.com/Phobos.html Warning: it's kind of out there. At the very least, it's perhaps interesting as speculative sci-fi.
dekhn 7y ago
you are not alone
Evidlo 7y ago
Count your blessings. The vast separation between stars means that star systems can have stable planetary orbits for billions of years, which is important for life to develop.
riffraff 7y ago
I've read that most of Lovecraft's is derived from the horror at realizing how insanely large in both space and time the universe is. The unspeakable horrors and mind defying deities in his oeuvre are effectively just reiteration of the "the human race is an irrelevant blip on the universe's radar" concept.
- programd 7y ago
  Well that just cries out for a quote :) "We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." - H.P. Lovecraft "The Call of Cthulhu"
  - riffraff 7y ago
    beautiful, thank you!
tim333 7y ago
Or entirely new levels of lifespan. Just upload yourself to the grid and boot up in a few million years.

api 7y ago

Or extreme life extension, or fully digital AI. Life span is a big part of the problem. Personally I doubt that meat will go to the stars. Planets, sure, and maybe bases or settlements. The stars take too long.

TeMPOraL 7y ago

You're not alone. I grew up reading and watching a lot of sci-fi. Today I recognize that most of it was garbage in terms of physics, but I'm still saddened that the universe isn't that easy - we can't just hop on a space cruise ship and do a tour of a nearby nebula...

pault 7y ago
Going to Mars may be routine some day, though!
- ekianjo 7y ago
  Just going to Mars will significantly increase your risk of cancer, unless we find smart ways to repair our genetic material as we go.
  - gambiting 7y ago
    Well, for the journey itself the problem has a simple solution - more shielding. Then of course we have to answer the question of how can we get ships into orbit when they are full of shielding, but that's not insurmountable. The bigger issue is actually living on mars - as romantic as that idea is, human habitation on the surface is really dumb, the radiation level is not insignificant, so anything long term would either have to be shielded or be under ground. And if we are going to build an underground colony....then why not start with one here on Earth?
    - cygx 7y ago
      Then of course we have to answer the question of how can we get ships into orbit when they are full of shielding, but that's not insurmountable. If regular travel becomes a reality, you wouldn't shield the launch vehicle, but the cycler[1]. [1] https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_cycler https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Mars_cycler
      - isostatic 7y ago
        The benefit of using a cycler rather than a ship that travels orbit-to-orbit is that there is no need to accelerate/decelerate the mass of the ship, just the perishables (people and provisions for the voyage) You would accelerate a small vessel (like a crew dragon or orion), intercept and dock with the much larger cycler, then enter the ship for your x-month trip. When you near mars, you get back into your dragon, and burn away from the cycler, entering into martian approach. 7 people in a Crew Dragon for 18-24 months would not be pleasant. 7 people in a flying space hotel would be far nicer. You could presumably look at using a small asteroid to provide the bulk of the "cycler", offering plenty of shielding for the trip, you'd only have to get it into position once - far less fuel requirement. My understanding though is Musk is planning on using BFR to go surface-to-surface, with maybe a refuel in earth orbit. I believe this is because of the amount of material that needs transporting to Mars for the first 20 years or so, and that mass can be used as useful shielding. Even if Mars becomes self sustaining and doesn't require a large amount of cargo:people ratio, I believe Musk is aiming for a much shorter transit time than 2 years.
        npongratz 7y ago
        > You could presumably look at using a small asteroid to provide the bulk of the "cycler", offering plenty of shielding for the trip, you'd only have to get it into position once - far less fuel requirement. Or maybe even something like, as some have suggested (not me!), Phobos: http://enterprisemission.com/Phobos.html http://enterprisemission.com/Phobos.html Warning: it's kind of out there. At the very least, it's perhaps interesting as speculative sci-fi.

dekhn 7y ago

you are not alone

Evidlo 7y ago

Count your blessings. The vast separation between stars means that star systems can have stable planetary orbits for billions of years, which is important for life to develop.

riffraff 7y ago

I've read that most of Lovecraft's is derived from the horror at realizing how insanely large in both space and time the universe is. The unspeakable horrors and mind defying deities in his oeuvre are effectively just reiteration of the "the human race is an irrelevant blip on the universe's radar" concept.

programd 7y ago
Well that just cries out for a quote :) "We live on a placid island of ignorance in the midst of black seas of infinity, and it was not meant that we should voyage far. The sciences, each straining in its own direction, have hitherto harmed us little; but some day the piecing together of dissociated knowledge will open up such terrifying vistas of reality, and of our frightful position therein, that we shall either go mad from the revelation or flee from the deadly light into the peace and safety of a new dark age." - H.P. Lovecraft "The Call of Cthulhu"
- riffraff 7y ago
  beautiful, thank you!

tim333 7y ago

Or entirely new levels of lifespan. Just upload yourself to the grid and boot up in a few million years.