A dream. Scientists everywhere are trying to improve the human race. I ask the question, "Are we going towards Star Wars?" My brother says we are, and I have an article that may convince you to think we might actually be.
The Warp Drive
The warp drive is a long way from now, but scientists know how it would work if we had one. A mass of negative energy is cast around the ship you are in, and rips the ship from visible space. The space in front of you compresses, and the space behind you stretches, sending you foward at the speed of light.
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| The most obvious challenge to practical interstellar travel is speed. Our nearest neighboring star is 4.2 Light Years away. Trip times to reach our nearest neighboring star at conventional speeds would be prohibitively long. At 55 miles-per-hour for example, it would take over 50 million years to get there! I don’t think even the twinkies in the glove box would survive that long. At a more typical spacecraft speed, for example the 3-day trip time that it took the Apollo spacecraft to reach the moon, it would still take over 900 thousand years. I still don’t think the twinkies will make it. And even if we consider the staggering speed of 37-thousand miles-per-hour, which was the speed of the NASA Voyager spacecraft as it left our solar system years ago, the trip would still take 80,000 years. Maybe the twinkies would make it, but there would be nothing left on board to eat them. In conclusion, if we want to cruise to other stars within comfortable and fundable time spans (say, less than a term in Congress), we have to figure out a way to go faster than light. |
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This chart highlights two critical features of a rocket, Thrust and Specific Impulse. Thrust is how much push a rocket can give. The higher up on the chart, the greater the push.
Specific Impulse can be thought of as a kind of fuel efficiency for rocket engines, analogous to the miles-per-gallon for cars. The farther right on the chart, the less propellant you’ll need. It really has to do with how fast the fuel blasts out of the rocket.
What you should notice is the red region. This is the range of rocket performance we can conceivably create with what we know today. And what we need for interstellar travel is in that desired region or even more fuel efficient. |
Both quotes by NASA
Hey. If you put your mind to it, anything is possible. ^_^ The technology for flying with space ships will come in the state of hyperspace, but at the moment i heard that there are tests with impulse engines.
Everything is possible but it needs time for creating and development.
well if our nearest star is 4.2 lightyears, then even at lightspeed it would take 4.2 years.
don't know about you but i wouldnt want to be in a cramped spaceship for 4 YEARS!!!(heck, even a month makes me not want to go)
Theoretical physics is so much fun. You basically think of what you want to do, then test known materials, laws, or other things to see if it's possible. As with faster than light travel, we seem to think that the speed of light is impossible to pass, however what scientists think might work, are worm holes. tears in the space-time continum. You could instantly travel between points on opposite sides of the universe. It's harnassing their power which is the problem.
Yeah, with theory there really are no bounds. Its like the creativity of the science world. Now, faster than light travel seems an insurmountable task however just imagine how someone from the 13th Century would react to our current technology. By tracing our development through history, we can see that it is only a matter of time before we have many of the technologies we can only dream of now.
If we haave another tech boom such as the one in the last century imagine where we could be in a hundred years
Yeah, it will be incredible. I only hope that I will be alive to see the next century through. I don't think it will be unreasonable for me to live to almost 120 years old the way that the medical field is growing as well.
Advances come in ebbs and flows, and like the OP said, the boom we experienced in the last hundred years would be interested to repeat with new technology. I foresee the ability to space travel will come slowly. Why? Where would go? What is the benefit for spending trillions of dollars to sit out in space for dedades? Now if they discover a resource rich planet accessible to us...
Resources would be one reason, but another is because the earth is getting crowed. More people are being born than are dying, not that we should kill lost of people, that's just stupid. another is the case of the killer asteroid, because there is a 100% chance that we will be hit in the future, we just don't know when. I should finish my other essay now....
I dunno of this can be possible for human beings. But if we can do it it would be great of course. It will cost a lot of money and maybe it is for nothing. But if you don't take the challange, you don't know of it is possible. It would be so much nicer to unite the world first and then take over space.
Grtzz,
Over population is actually just a myth. The entire world's population can fit within the state of Texas. As for the resources, we've got plenty of what would be needed to complete the task.
| Samuel wrote: |
The Warp Drive
The warp drive is a long way from now, but scientists know how it would work if we had one. A mass of negative energy is cast around the ship you are in, and rips the ship from visible space. The space in front of you compresses, and the space behind you stretches, sending you foward at the speed of light. |
Star Wars?! The Warp Drive is from Star Trek...I think Star Wars is one of the best topics ever!!!!! It has practically the perfect science fiction theme!
(If you haven't seen Episode 3, SEE IT!)
