Gold_53 GROUP: Members POSTS: 9036  |
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Feb. 21 2009, 11:48 pm
Inspired by the "Future of Propulsion" I saw on NGC last night. What method of propulsion will eventually allow humanity to visit the stars and by stars I mean be able to travel to at least the closest star outside our solar system (Alpha Centauri) and back within a normal human life span. Choose wisely....  |
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Gold_53 GROUP: Members POSTS: 9036 |
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Feb. 22 2009, 12:26 am
| Quote (DrGojira @ Feb. 22 2009, 12:08 am) | | Ion thruster for trying to reach the nearest star or magnetoplasma rocket seem the best bets. |
Well Ion Thrusters supposedly could reach 10,000 miles per hour (87,600,000 miles per year) and Magnetoplasma states similar numbers. At that speed they would reach Alpha Centauri (25.8 trillion miles away) in about 294,520 Earth years so unless there was a significant jump in that technology not sure it could be done in a human lifetime.  |
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Gold_53 GROUP: Members POSTS: 9036 |
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Feb. 22 2009, 12:38 am
| Quote (DrGojira @ Feb. 22 2009, 12:34 am) | | Quote (Gold_53 @ Feb. 21 2009, 1:26 am) | | Quote (DrGojira @ Feb. 22 2009, 12:08 am) | | Ion thruster for trying to reach the nearest star or magnetoplasma rocket seem the best bets. |
Well Ion Thrusters supposedly could reach 10,000 miles per hour (87,600,000 miles per year) and Magnetoplasma states similar numbers. At that speed they would reach Alpha Centauri (25.8 trillion miles away) in about 294,520 Earth years so unless there was a significant jump in that technology not sure it could be done in a human lifetime.
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 Gold, I was counting on a big leap in technology from them to work. I think they have the best chance for that leap, but it's all just speculation, of course.
I don't see anti-matter ever working. What do you think? |
I honestly believe and I don't know how but I think in the future humanity will find a way to fold space basically making it so we don't have to travel great distances to reach those stars but bring the stars to us. Obviously this technology doesn't remotely exist right now but it's the only way I can see us reaching any other stars in 1 human lifetime.  |
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Gold_53 GROUP: Members POSTS: 9036 |
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Feb. 22 2009, 12:47 am
| Quote (DrGojira @ Feb. 22 2009, 12:43 am) | | I voted for folding space in the 10F thread until I reread your OP. But I think that would apply to exploring the galaxy. |
I think it's more feasible than creating artificial wormholes and controlling where their destination is or finding a way to travel near or beyond the speed of light. |
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Gold_53 GROUP: Members POSTS: 9036 |
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Feb. 22 2009, 2:07 am
| Quote (DrGojira @ Feb. 22 2009, 12:51 am) | | Quote (Gold_53 @ Feb. 21 2009, 1:47 am) | | Quote (DrGojira @ Feb. 22 2009, 12:43 am) | | I voted for folding space in the 10F thread until I reread your OP. But I think that would apply to exploring the galaxy. |
I think it's more feasible than creating artificial wormholes and controlling where their destination is or finding a way to travel near or beyond the speed of light.
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I agree. Folding space precludes all the problems (or impossibilities) of traveling faster than light. But for now, ion thrusters and magnetoplasmic rockets might actually be feasible within a few lifetimes along tied to an almost inconceivable leap in technology. |
During the 1700/1800s the atom bomb would of been an almost inconceivable leap in technology. So you never know in a couple hundred years where we will be assuming we don't destroy ourselves first. |
NXColumbia GROUP: Members POSTS: 56 |
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Feb. 22 2009, 9:44 pm
I doubt humanity will ever make it past the Sol system. Colony Vessels are the only way I can think of that would allow us to leave the solar system. Faster-than-light just isn't possible.
Playing with spacetime is a big no-no in my opinion. The mechanics of it are far too advanced for humanity to be messing with. If we haven't destroyed ourselves in a couple thousand years, it may be possible, but not until then.
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4_of_20 GROUP: Members POSTS: 1052 |
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Feb. 23 2009, 9:48 am
Folding space.
To reach the stars would take a long time STL. Even at relativistic speeds the wait back home would be unbearable, even just to hear news that the astronauts arrived safely.
Space folding on paper has been rapidly advancing over the past 15 years (Alcubierre, Krasinkov, Broek, Obousy, Cleaver to name a few published theoretical physicists in the field) and now with CERN beginning to touch on practical experiments involving WIMPS, black holes and the search for the illusive Higgs Boson, we may just rapidly advance our knowledge of the structure of spacetime within the next twenty years.
A fast space folding/warping vessel would come many years after that, and maybe some relativistic rockets (matter-antimatter collisions being my second bet) will be launched in the meantime, but I believe if folding space in order to propel a spacecraft is possible then we will one day find a way.
Just look how far we've come (theoretically at least) since the c speed limit was first imposed on us...
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GrandLunar2007 GROUP: Members POSTS: 1092 |
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Feb. 23 2009, 10:49 pm
Based on what I've read of propulsion, there are various methods that can allow for interstellar propulsion.
I believe a Nuclear Saltwater Rocket is on concept. Not likely to happen, given the influence of ignorant people when it comes to nuclear fission. They love to practise fear mongering.
Nuclear pulse drives seem to have the most promise, aside from antimatter propulsion (which requires us to first have a suitable means of making the stuff in large quantities in the first place).
Speeds of around 15% C are possible. A project with this sort of drive was part of a concept to send probes to a location called Barnard's Star, as it was suspected of having planets.
This star is 6 light years away. The probe would take 47 years to reach the star. Of course, it would not slow down.
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designation1 GROUP: Members POSTS: 88 |
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Feb. 25 2009, 12:41 am
I don't see my hunch listed, therefore I cannot vote. My gut feeling - no proof possessed nor required for a simple hunch, mind you - is that we will one day use the atmosphere itself as a means of power and propulsion. I have primitive theories and believe the electromagnetic spectrum holds the key to lots of interesting things...not only in regards to space exploration or flight but in regards to everything -everything in existence.
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blankenship GROUP: Members POSTS: 1632 |
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Feb. 27 2009, 7:49 pm
Maybe it's not about speed. It might be only about time. A very long time. What if over the next thousand years we just sort of grow out. Before we have filled all the available space and used all the material we have in the solar system we will have to travel. To make a long leasurely journey to the nearest system to find more. Living our lives in gigantic spaces. Taking with us the greatest portion of mass in the system, excluding the sun.
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Kdbtrekkin GROUP: Members POSTS: 3635 |
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Mar. 19 2009, 5:15 am
We will someday surpass Q, then technology will not matter, but till then, wormholes, folding space and teleportion, possibly antimatter are the best bets for getting there in one lifetime.
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Holberg GROUP: Members POSTS: 1047 |
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Mar. 21 2009, 11:08 am
| Quote (blankenship @ Feb. 27 2009, 7:49 pm) | | Maybe it's not about speed. It might be only about time. A very long time. What if over the next thousand years we just sort of grow out. Before we have filled all the available space and used all the material we have in the solar system we will have to travel. To make a long leasurely journey to the nearest system to find more. Living our lives in gigantic spaces. Taking with us the greatest portion of mass in the system, excluding the sun. |
Almost makes me think of a Dyson Sphere with a drive system  But there you take the sun with you  |
dryson GROUP: Members POSTS: 550 |
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Apr. 08 2009, 8:50 pm
http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=SP_090406_WindyQuasar#playerTop
Here is a link to a video at Space.com. I think that this device will in the future be able to provide the necessary release of energy needed to propel a ship forward.
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