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But what about navigating on the other end? It would make a terrible first impression if our probe smashed into their version of Voyager. Hopefully we come up

But what about navigating on the other end? It would make a terrible first impression if our probe smashed into their version of Voyager. Hopefully we come up with a good way to test the brakes.

kevinventullo 3y ago
This sounds like a great sci-fi premise. We think we’re being attacked by intergalactic missiles but they’re really just probes sent by a more advanced, albeit clumsy civilization in an attempt to move fast and break things in the name of discovery. Humanity vehemently debates the meaning of the “attacks” but ultimately decides we must go to war with these aliens. Eventually the aliens do arrive, interested only in peaceful communication. They disarm our arsenal trivially, but understand why we wanted to fight them and apologize for the misunderstanding.
- saiya-jin 3y ago
  Or after series of misunderstandings they hit the big reset button, sterilize Earth and move on from those aggressive apes.
- mminer237 3y ago
  A bit of a spoiler, but something similar to this happens in Ender's Game.
Robotbeat 3y ago
The interstellar void is not a pure void but is filled with diffuse plasma, the Interstellar Medium. Which, because plasma is electrically conductive at large length scales, you can brake against using gargantuan superconducting coils producing a magnetic field (which induces eddy currents in the plasma, producing a force opposing the direction of motion), slowing down like a magnet dropped into a vertical copper pipe: https://youtu.be/uh0bbW6S3BY?si=kE-1jYagQxGHIVMA https://youtu.be/uh0bbW6S3BY?si=kE-1jYagQxGHIVMA