Interstellar Travel - Will it ever happen?

[TwiceOver]

In our lifetime, probably not. Ever of course. Same scenario goes with the Vikings winning a Superbowl.

 

[Falloutboy]

Originally posted by: OulOat

Originally posted by: Mith
I say we do great big colony ships that can wander like crazy. Near-perfect environmental recycling technology will be needed. It'd be pretty cool to see the human form adapted to microgravity.

We can't. Our bones would fade to nothing. The only reason our bones are as strong as they are is to hold up our body from gravity. I read that astronauts returning to earth had a serious lost in bone strength, and these are short visits to space. We would need to implement artificial gravity before any long journeys in space.

this problem has already been solved. you would just need a spinning space ship

 

[TechnoKid]

Originally posted by: Falloutboy

Originally posted by: OulOat

Originally posted by: Mith
I say we do great big colony ships that can wander like crazy. Near-perfect environmental recycling technology will be needed. It'd be pretty cool to see the human form adapted to microgravity.

We can't. Our bones would fade to nothing. The only reason our bones are as strong as they are is to hold up our body from gravity. I read that astronauts returning to earth had a serious lost in bone strength, and these are short visits to space. We would need to implement artificial gravity before any long journeys in space.

this problem has already been solved. you would just need a spinning space ship

like space station deep space nine.

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: Falloutboy

Originally posted by: OulOat

Originally posted by: Mith
I say we do great big colony ships that can wander like crazy. Near-perfect environmental recycling technology will be needed. It'd be pretty cool to see the human form adapted to microgravity.

We can't. Our bones would fade to nothing. The only reason our bones are as strong as they are is to hold up our body from gravity. I read that astronauts returning to earth had a serious lost in bone strength, and these are short visits to space. We would need to implement artificial gravity before any long journeys in space.

this problem has already been solved. you would just need a spinning space ship

Solved, but not implemented. Everything simple in theory, but not so easy on the drawing board.

 

[nmcglennon]

won't happen in the next 100 years I bet... or the next 1000.

We'll have destroyed this planet and outr own race before we develop technology to actually achieve intergalactic travel.

 

[everman]

Nobody would have ever imagined that we could build something that travels at mach 10, but here we are. Given enough time, and don't blow ourselves up....sure.

 

[Gunbuster]

We neeed nano machines, but once we have them one will go haywire and turn all organic matter on earth into Strawberry Dream Topping

 

[MrSanderzX]

Interstellar Travel isn't something we will see in our life time, but provided that we don't annihilate ourselves or this planet before hand.

Conceptually speaking it seems that we can, but it is just a matter of how long until then?

 

[thomsbrain]

yeah, i expect we'll figure it out. we'll need to be able to travel through other dimensions, though. (think of us as an ant on the inside of a balloon, and what we need to do is learn travel across the balloon instead of walking all the way around).

 

[LordNoob]

It seems irrelevant whether or not FTL travel is possible in the near term- rather the focus should be on colonizing another planet, be it in this solar system or not, as the current rate of environmental degradation and population growth don't paint a bright picture for this planet. I'm no extreme environmentalist but the more important thing is colonizing another planet before this one becomes uninhabitable, and it certainly seems like FTL travel will be achieved far too late (if it is ever possible) unless we get to another planet first.

 

[Goosemaster]

somehow everyone has disregarded the fact that the ion engine will continue to acceleratethe vehicle it pushes.....

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

we can't even get our sh1t together to go back to the moon.

 

[z0mb13]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
somehow everyone has disregarded the fact that the ion engine will continue to acceleratethe vehicle it pushes.....

what in the world is the ion engine

 

[brigden]

Originally posted by: DigDug
Nope, we never will. The pace of scientific progress, while amazing, seems to lead to an invincibility complex. That is, we assume that anything we have once thought of will eventually be done. Sorry, you star trek nerds - it ain't gonna happen.

I'm sure if you explained a television to a group of scientists seven hundred years ago they would have hung you on the spot.

 

[OulOat]

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
somehow everyone has disregarded the fact that the ion engine will continue to acceleratethe vehicle it pushes.....

Then you have the problem of slowing down. So you have another ion engine in reverse... what about fuel?

 

[HomeBrewerDude]

slowing down!? who said anything about slowing down!

 

[Vikaden]

Originally posted by: z0mb13

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
somehow everyone has disregarded the fact that the ion engine will continue to acceleratethe vehicle it pushes.....

what in the world is the ion engine

Ion engine

 

[FoBoT]

no

 

[tk149]

Originally posted by: Vikaden

Originally posted by: z0mb13

Originally posted by: Goosemaster
somehow everyone has disregarded the fact that the ion engine will continue to acceleratethe vehicle it pushes.....

what in the world is the ion engine

Ion engine

That's cool, but what happens when it runs out of Xenon? You need a Ramjet or something like it that uses renewable fuel to achieve interstellar speeds.

 

[HardcoreRobot]

of course it will happen. who knows when though.

 

[Alastria]

I've never seen generational ships or cold sleep as a solution to space travel. Too many things can go wrong in cold sleep with no one to fix problems. With ships that slow, no rescue missions could be sent out. And there's no way anyone would be willing to make that kind commitment: to never see their family or home again. And in multi-generational ships, you'd never see your home OR your destination. Just a tin can for the rest of your life. And you'd better hope that you get along with those people in there with you...

Deep-space travel will never be viable until we can make it to/from another star within a few years. And yes, it will happen.

I believe something like an Alcubierre warp drive will be the answer. Once we begin to fully understand M-theory, and can explain and manipulate gravity on a quantum level, we can use it for propulsion. Wormholes might be a similar possibility.

200 years from now, we will be able to manipulate space-time to the same exactness that we can manipulate air with aerodynamics now. If that sounds crazy, try telling someone from 1700 that man will fly in 200 years.

 

[BlamoHammer]

I think you would be able to find plenty of candidates who would risk death in order to further science. It's the general populace that wouldn't like it and therefore not want to fund it.

 

[Cerb]

No. How will we regulate the gravity, particularly mimicking the interaction with the moon?

 

[Mik3y]

there is already interstellar travel. i can run from here to the next star system. it'll just take me a few hundred billion lifetimes.

 

[EarthwormJim]

Question:

Does it actually take 4.4 years for a traveler going at the speed of light or near it, to get to Alpha Centauri? Or is that 4.4 years from our perspective and not from the travler's (so to them it's less than 4.4 years)?