The way I view it is assuming that technology is possible and viable then in theory given enough time we can make a dozen probes each traveling in different directions for 20 to 100 years. If they last 20 years which they should as we already have craft that have been active in space for around 50 years that's a 4 light year bubble in 20 years in multiple directions around Earth. At 100 years of travel that's a 40 lightyear bubble covered which drastically increases our odds of finding something if there is anything to find. Not in our lifetime of course but in theory there is no reason why we cannot get probes around us in a 40+ light year radius over the next 200 years or less. Then transmit that data on a tight beam back to us. I would like to think in the next 200 ish years we would have at least visited a few near by stars by probe or have a probe on the way.Which is 4 light years away and will take 20 years to get there which is nowhere near the speed of light.
It also won't be happening until at least 2069 if it happens.
Our current Shuttle would take 148,000 years
Pentagon releases UFO footage
- Thread starter Doobedoo
- Start date
yeah, that's not how we do it though, is it?
Not how we do what?
Soldato
Well we don't fly like flying in nature occurs..
The mechanics are literally identical.
We create a wing - air moves over the wing and it generates lift, there's zero difference between an A380 moving through the air and an Albertross gliding, no difference at all.
(of course, the bird generates forward momentum by flapping it's wings, we use an engine or propeller - the rest is exactly the same)
People long ago realised this and tried to emulate nature and flight by creating wings they could wear, they didn't quite succeed at first - but they had the right idea, and it ultimately led to where we are now.
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Its close enough in my view. To travel 4 light years in the space of 20 years is impressive. 4 light years is a very long way.Which is 4 light years away and will take 20 years to get there which is nowhere near the speed of light.
It also won't be happening until at least 2069 if it happens.
Our current Shuttle would take 148,000 years
Man of Honour
It's only words at the moment.
I believe NASA are working on an Alcubierre (warp) drive, which in principle doesn't violate the laws of physics to allow a craft to travel at light speed, although it requires a vast amount of anti matter (negative mass) to power it which currently is not achievable.
Reminds me to re-watch Star Trek First Contact
Reminds me to re-watch Star Trek First Contact
Soldato
I've yet to see an Albatross in space.
Yeah you completely missed the point.
If you want to build an aeroplane to fly in the atmosphere - you can look to nature to copy it, (birds) build a machine to solve the problem (a plane).
If you want to fly to another star system 100 light years away, there is no system from nature that we can look at, or understand that would solve that problem if we could copy it.
Whatever system we come up with to solve that problem, is so totally unbelievable and exotic - that there is no known way it could work, no known system which could be designed to solve it - no matter where we look, or how hard we try right now.
Ergo - the problem is infinitely more complicated and difficult, so saying "Well we built planes in 100 years, so going to another solar system is just a matter of time" - it could well be that our species never makes it anywhere further than some of the planets, before we die out.
The problem is NASA are working on everything in some way or another, they've always had a budget to fund lots of far out projects where there might be a 0.001% chance of a breakthrough discovery being made.
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they aren't really working on it as its a wild theory at this point and not reality.I believe NASA are working on an Alcubierre (warp) drive, which in principle doesn't violate the laws of physics to allow a craft to travel at light speed, although it requires a vast amount of anti matter (negative mass) to power it which currently is not achievable.
Reminds me to re-watch Star Trek First Contact
Also, antimatter has positive mass, not negative mass - nothing has been found that has negative mass and it is purely hypothetical.
Nothing has been found in the public domain.
I don't think humans would die out, once they eventually build new technology to where they can terraform other planets in our solar system then they can only progress from there and multiply in vast numbers. We have just over 1 billion years which is a very long time to evolve.
I disagree,
The rate at which we're wrecking our own planet is frightening, the way in which we wage war against each other hasn't changed much - and the stakes have gotten much, much higher.
I think there's every chance that we could either consume all resources, or destroy ourselves very quickly - especially at the rate we're expanding as a species.
Combine that, with the fact that there is absolutely no mechanism, system or even workable idea - where we could go and move to another planet, I don't think the future looks that great for us, if I'm honest.
Associate
history should shows us, that rising temperatures lead to major changes in the earth violently, the last time the earth temperatures where this high we had a major extinction event so i tend to agree with you.
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Soldato
Even if we could use a solar sail and very powerful lasers to accelerate a tiny mass to a velocity that would get it to Alpha Centauri in 20 years, how is it going to decelerate when it gets there? If you don't put in as much energy to slow it as you did to accelerate it its just going to speed right past that system.
Associate
turn the sail
Soldato
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I'm sure it will have a timed mechanism built into it or something, it would be like making a car that had no breaks, but if it couldn't such as something going wrong when it got there, it would be enough to send images/data back to Earth to give us a better idea of what the star systems planets look like.
We may even build a more advanced space telescope within the next 20 years or before 2069 to see some of the planets in that system who knows...
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