$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Ingenuity_Gap', '
')...To go beyond the nearest stars we need a totally different type of propulsion, one that is capable of faster-than-light speeds, otherwise the time spent on a journey would be prohibitive. As we all know wormholes, warp drives, antigravity engines are still only science-fiction.
When you start to grasp the difficulty of the problem you calm down and come back to Earth quickly.
PeakOil is You
If Astronomers Detected a Signal from an Alien Civilization
Re: If Astronomers Detected a Signal from an Alien Civilizat
by EnergyUnlimited » Sat 25 Nov 2006, 05:12:34
1. Your initial assertions about usefulness of fusion & antimatter are correct. Those will not take us to stars, if applied conventionally.
2. Faster than light travel is plain NONSENSE.
Warp drives are nonsense as well (some fantastic amounts of so-called negative energy would be required there to distort spacetime).
3. Technological breakthrough required to complete interstellar travel could include:
- breakthrough in hibernation technology to extend astronauts life.
I think, this is easiest approach.
Many thousand of years at 50-100 km*s-1 would be as good as few weeks at speed close to light. All, what we would miss, are few pleasing relativistic effects, (eg should you fly with exactly seed of light, what is impossible for many reasons anyway, you would reach arbitrary far destination, say far away Galaxy, in no time at all).
- R. Bussard space ram jet design.
Fuel would be an interstellar hydrogen and fusion of it would be a power source. Giant electomagnetic or electrostatic field would be used to "scoop" it and direct into a "core" of fusion reactor.
This would in principle allow you to get arbitrary close to speed of light. In practice you could think about 50-90% of this speed.
This is about the only way of travel allowing you to accelerate to such speeds and decellerate back within not too long time.
As close to Star Treck, as you can possibly get.
Engineering problems are so immense, that few centuries of constant science progress at current rate would be needed to begin to think about it.
Nevertheless it is possible in principle.
- Leave fuel at home, and use giant lasers/particle accelerators installed in space of solar system to "kick out" a probe.
Few % of speed of light could be achieved, slowing down at destination would be impossible (unless someone there would use similar instruments...).
Good for investigative robotic probes.
Within less than a century technology may be in place (if industrial civilization survive...)
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Re: If Astronomers Detected a Signal from an Alien Civilizat
by EnergyUnlimited » Sat 25 Nov 2006, 05:25:02
$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('AWPrime', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('TITAN', '')$this->bbcode_second_pass_quote('Battle_Scarred_Galactico', 'D')on't get your hopes up, the distances involved would take even light hundreds of thousands, even millions of years to travel.
Since radio travels at the speed of light, it would not take millions, or thousands, or even hundreds of years to receive a possible signal.
A possible alien civilisation can be thousands of light years away.
Possible Alien civilization could even be a dosen of light years or so, but more likely few thousands of years and even more likely few millions of light years.
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EnergyUnlimited - Light Sweet Crude
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