3 ms·

If it’s not a projectile, we have the tech already. Landing on Mars is done autonomously today but making a robot/computer to last more than 1000 years isn’t in

• toss1 4y ago
  >>making a robot/computer to last more than 1000 years isn’t in our wheelhouse yet. Yes, exactly my point - we can very nicely control landings to within a meter today. How can we make a craft land with any precision say 2-5000 years in the future? It'll require a power source good for 5000 years, a computer that still operates flawlessly for 5000 years, fuel that doesn't evaporate or degrade for 5000 years, and a rocket engine system that will operate properly in 5000 years. Even reduce that spec to 1000 years, or just a 500 years, and I don't see how we get there with today's tech.
  • cwmoore 4y ago
    Make millions of them and some will last outlier timespans. One low-power lightbulb that has been illuminated for over a hundred years: https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-burning-light-bulb https://www.guinnessworldrecords.com/world-records/longest-b...
    • toss1 4y ago
      Yes. Making millions of them would likely also make all the other problems go away. Wit a million copies, we can forget about the controlled re-entry. While around 700k of them will sink in the oceans, there should still be 300,000 that will fall on land. As long as the initial orbits, drag profiles, heat absorbtion profiles/patterns, etc. are sufficiently randomized so they all truly re-enter in a random pattern, there should be no need for propellant, engines, power, or controlled re-entry.