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Imagine meeting one of these planets while travelling in space, the entire planet all dark and you are ordered to investigate.
by m3kw9 5y ago
Imagine meeting one of these planets while travelling in space, the entire planet all dark and you are ordered to investigate.
- escapecharacter 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight_(Watts_novel) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Blindsight_(Watts_novel)
- rusanu 5y agoalso https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Egg https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dragon%27s_Egg
- astrange 5y agohttps://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatlander_(short_story) https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flatlander_(short_story)
- actually_a_dog 5y agoAlso https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0572231/ https://www.imdb.com/title/tt0572231/ (Star Trek: Enterprise, "Rogue Planet")
- krisoft 5y agoSounds spooky, but when I try to imagine it my mind throws an exception: In any non-imaginary scenairo you wont have enough energy and reaction mass to match speed with the object. in these scenarios “ordered to investigate” means that you will do some neat observations as you and the object drifts by. And if you have somehow enough energy to match the planet’s speed then you are basically a god and you don’t really have much which can spook you. While the story of squishy human meatsacks traveling in a tin-can braving the surface of one of these would be a compelling read it is not really realistic sadly.
- m4rtink 5y agoYou could manufacture a lot of flyby drones & get quite some data, provided you craft has enough spare mass and technological capacity. Or possibly even have a small lander match speed (at horrendous delta-v cost) to land and explore.