7 ms·

Close and tranquil solar system has astronomers excited

101 points by olvy0 6y ago

domconscious 6y ago
Can we make it there before November?
- skrebbel 6y ago
  What's special about November?
  - lordnacho 6y ago
    There's a guy in the White House who badly needs a success before then, seems to be what the GP was referring to.
    - skrebbel 6y ago
      Ah right, thanks. EDIT: I'm confused that you got downvoted, your explanation was helpful to me. Anyway, with this out of the way I'm happy to report to GP that there's places that can be easily reached from the US with current spaceship technology[0] where Trump does not rule and where politics is less polarized. [0] or current bus technology if you're on a budget
      - dna_polymerase 6y ago
        Since Canada and Mexico just closed their borders to the USA I think it just got a lot harder to flee.
        deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
        IAmGraydon 6y ago
        Canada has been closed since March 21 and only one Mexican state closed their border with Arizona. Just FYI.
    - hellofunk 6y ago
      Not how I interpreted it, the guy in the White House does not get a success, those on the ship need an escape for if the guy wins in November.
- m4r35n357 6y ago
  Depends _which_ November . . .
- dang 6y ago
  Please don't do this here.
senectus1 6y ago
Musk ever spoken about what he'd do to get outside of the solar? Speed of light is a bastard of a limitation to have to beat...
- m4r35n357 6y ago
  Even if it were _not_ a physical limit, we still wouldn't get anywhere near it with a real (even fantasy) rocket. One of the first things I tried in Frontier (ancient space game).
- d_silin 6y ago
  There is plenty of stuff to explore and colonize in Solar System alone. But interstellar travel is not that unfeasible. Sending an unmanned probe to Alpha or Proxima Centauri might be just possible in the next century.
  - brutt 6y ago
    We can send probe right away by throwing few dozen billions on it, but it will arrive in the next century.
- admax88q 6y ago
  Only for those left behind, time dilation is magic. As per wikipedia: > a constant 1 g acceleration would permit humans to travel through the entire known Universe in one human lifetime So it's really only a challenge of propulsion. You're not making a return trip to any recognizable civilization though.
  - jandrese 6y ago
    Yeah, but have you ever worked out the rocket equation for a spaceship that accelerates at 1G for a full year? There literally isn’t enough mass in our solar system, even with a ridiculous engine with an ISP of 5000 and perfect alchemy to convert all raw mass in the solar system to rocket fuel.
    - 6y ago
caiobegotti 6y ago
Please just make JWST operational at last, please.
- jonplackett 6y ago
  What is JWST?
  - Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago
    James Webb Space Telescope, I guess
  - zrail 6y ago
    https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope
- curiousgal 6y ago
  I've always been curious, when the design phase ends and construction begins, wouldn't new technologies have emerged by then? Do they try to keep up and incorporate improvements or are new breakthroughs rare?
  - deleted 6y ago
    [deleted]
  - caiobegotti 6y ago
    After 25 years in the making and now waiting to be launched, technology of course has advanced enough for JWST to be "obsolete" in that sense by the time it's operational. However, new space telescopes take so long to be operational but they still give us amazing data... even if what they give us is peanuts from old dusty tech it's still worth it. Anyways, JWST is going to be incredible... heck, even after so many years Hubble still produce a ridiculous amount of good data and research and it was designed in the 70s! Can you imagine if launching was cheap and we had a constant flow of budget for space telescopes and we could launch a new improvement every year (after an initial ramp-up of, say, 10 years)? Unfortunately launch costs and cadence has been a major blocker so far to the things you asked about IMHO.
gchokov 6y ago
Can we just accept habitable zone planets exists in every single star system around us? Thanks.
- dylan604 6y ago
  No, because there's no evidence that's true. We've found lots of stars with planets around them where none of them appear habitable.
cynusx 6y ago
So realistically we have two ways of colonizing this. Either we cure aging so a few decades of space travel wouldn't make a dent in our life and our physical ability to colonize an uninhabited environment OR we invent real AI and leave space colonization to the machines as they have both don't age and can transport themselves at the speed of light. I'd say machines will be cheaper.
- weejewel 6y ago
  You should read the Bobiverse books, they’re exactly about this with a lot of geeky humor added.
  - thom 6y ago
    I really enjoyed the audiobooks of these, which on the face of it ought to have been tricky, voicing dozens of copies of the same person.
  - ssijak 6y ago
    I liked the start of the first book very much, but then it started to get repetitive and after the second book I decided to skip the third.
- fierarul 6y ago
  Using AI seems pointless. Not to mention that what need would an AI have for a planet. Might as well put a solar sail in our system. Maybe make a few thousand clones... How about sending a whole village for the voyage? Some will die, some will be born, culture will be thought and the next generation would colonise the new planet.
  - simcop2387 6y ago
    A fun book about this idea, Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora.
    - johnnylambada 6y ago
deleted 6y ago
[deleted]
greeneggs 6y ago
Just for context, there are 22 other solar systems within 12 light years of us. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars_and_brown_dwarfs#List https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars_and_brow...
- _Microft 6y ago
  "Mr. Data, report to the stellar cartography and prepare a view of sector 001 and all stars within a radius of a few parsec." Here is a map: http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/12lys.html http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/12lys.html
einpoklum 6y ago
We still don't know: 1. If those planets have water. 2. If their surface gravity is tolerable. 3. What kind of atmosphere they have, if any. 4. What's the mineral composition of those planets. 5. How violent the surface weather is, provided an atmosphere does exist. So, there's only cause for cautious optimism.

101 points by olvy0 6y ago

domconscious 6y ago

Can we make it there before November?

skrebbel 6y ago
What's special about November?
- lordnacho 6y ago
  There's a guy in the White House who badly needs a success before then, seems to be what the GP was referring to.
  - skrebbel 6y ago
    Ah right, thanks. EDIT: I'm confused that you got downvoted, your explanation was helpful to me. Anyway, with this out of the way I'm happy to report to GP that there's places that can be easily reached from the US with current spaceship technology[0] where Trump does not rule and where politics is less polarized. [0] or current bus technology if you're on a budget
    - dna_polymerase 6y ago
      Since Canada and Mexico just closed their borders to the USA I think it just got a lot harder to flee.
      - deleted 6y ago
        [deleted]
      - IAmGraydon 6y ago
        Canada has been closed since March 21 and only one Mexican state closed their border with Arizona. Just FYI.
  - hellofunk 6y ago
    Not how I interpreted it, the guy in the White House does not get a success, those on the ship need an escape for if the guy wins in November.
m4r35n357 6y ago
Depends _which_ November . . .
dang 6y ago
Please don't do this here.

senectus1 6y ago

Musk ever spoken about what he'd do to get outside of the solar? Speed of light is a bastard of a limitation to have to beat...

m4r35n357 6y ago
Even if it were _not_ a physical limit, we still wouldn't get anywhere near it with a real (even fantasy) rocket. One of the first things I tried in Frontier (ancient space game).
d_silin 6y ago
There is plenty of stuff to explore and colonize in Solar System alone. But interstellar travel is not that unfeasible. Sending an unmanned probe to Alpha or Proxima Centauri might be just possible in the next century.
- brutt 6y ago
  We can send probe right away by throwing few dozen billions on it, but it will arrive in the next century.
admax88q 6y ago
Only for those left behind, time dilation is magic. As per wikipedia: > a constant 1 g acceleration would permit humans to travel through the entire known Universe in one human lifetime So it's really only a challenge of propulsion. You're not making a return trip to any recognizable civilization though.
- jandrese 6y ago
  Yeah, but have you ever worked out the rocket equation for a spaceship that accelerates at 1G for a full year? There literally isn’t enough mass in our solar system, even with a ridiculous engine with an ISP of 5000 and perfect alchemy to convert all raw mass in the solar system to rocket fuel.
  - 6y ago

caiobegotti 6y ago

Please just make JWST operational at last, please.

jonplackett 6y ago
What is JWST?
- Andrew_nenakhov 6y ago
  James Webb Space Telescope, I guess
- zrail 6y ago
  https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/James_Webb_Space_Telescope
curiousgal 6y ago
I've always been curious, when the design phase ends and construction begins, wouldn't new technologies have emerged by then? Do they try to keep up and incorporate improvements or are new breakthroughs rare?
- deleted 6y ago
  [deleted]
- caiobegotti 6y ago
  After 25 years in the making and now waiting to be launched, technology of course has advanced enough for JWST to be "obsolete" in that sense by the time it's operational. However, new space telescopes take so long to be operational but they still give us amazing data... even if what they give us is peanuts from old dusty tech it's still worth it. Anyways, JWST is going to be incredible... heck, even after so many years Hubble still produce a ridiculous amount of good data and research and it was designed in the 70s! Can you imagine if launching was cheap and we had a constant flow of budget for space telescopes and we could launch a new improvement every year (after an initial ramp-up of, say, 10 years)? Unfortunately launch costs and cadence has been a major blocker so far to the things you asked about IMHO.

gchokov 6y ago

Can we just accept habitable zone planets exists in every single star system around us? Thanks.

dylan604 6y ago
No, because there's no evidence that's true. We've found lots of stars with planets around them where none of them appear habitable.

cynusx 6y ago

So realistically we have two ways of colonizing this. Either we cure aging so a few decades of space travel wouldn't make a dent in our life and our physical ability to colonize an uninhabited environment OR we invent real AI and leave space colonization to the machines as they have both don't age and can transport themselves at the speed of light. I'd say machines will be cheaper.

weejewel 6y ago
You should read the Bobiverse books, they’re exactly about this with a lot of geeky humor added.
- thom 6y ago
  I really enjoyed the audiobooks of these, which on the face of it ought to have been tricky, voicing dozens of copies of the same person.
- ssijak 6y ago
  I liked the start of the first book very much, but then it started to get repetitive and after the second book I decided to skip the third.
fierarul 6y ago
Using AI seems pointless. Not to mention that what need would an AI have for a planet. Might as well put a solar sail in our system. Maybe make a few thousand clones... How about sending a whole village for the voyage? Some will die, some will be born, culture will be thought and the next generation would colonise the new planet.
- simcop2387 6y ago
  A fun book about this idea, Kim Stanley Robinson's Aurora.
  - johnnylambada 6y ago

deleted 6y ago

[deleted]

greeneggs 6y ago

Just for context, there are 22 other solar systems within 12 light years of us. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars_and_brown_dwarfs#List https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars_and_brow...

_Microft 6y ago
"Mr. Data, report to the stellar cartography and prepare a view of sector 001 and all stars within a radius of a few parsec." Here is a map: http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/12lys.html http://www.atlasoftheuniverse.com/12lys.html

einpoklum 6y ago

We still don't know: 1. If those planets have water. 2. If their surface gravity is tolerable. 3. What kind of atmosphere they have, if any. 4. What's the mineral composition of those planets. 5. How violent the surface weather is, provided an atmosphere does exist. So, there's only cause for cautious optimism.