30 Oct 09
Originally posted by joneschrBrain damage only for a few, but yes, too risky - but we're close.
At a 90% success rate with brain damage in the surviving test subjects.
Agreed though, it seems like there's potential in the technology -- it just needs some time and effort to perfect it.
And of course, there's the question of what we do when we get there. It's not like there's going to be an exact copy of earth lying in every solar system.
My point in arguing it wasn't to say it's not feasible, but more that we're not there yet.
30 Oct 09
Originally posted by sonhouseTop speed at the halfway point = 220,000 miles per hour.
Perhaps you missed my former post about this subject, we calculated that already, it accels at about 0.006 G so assuming a 100Kg craft, the thrust would be about 600 grams. Of course the craft would be a lot larger than that because the thrust needed would have to account for the weight of the entire craft, power supplies and all.
The formulae are not th ...[text shortened]... Mars with zero relative velocity. Of course it is not exactly that simple but you get the idea.
That would be quite a ride 🙂
09 Nov 09
I fail to see the point at this juncture in our development.
What happened when Europeans came in contact with Native Americans ?
What happened when Europeans "conquered" Africa ?
Answer: Spreading of diseases which either the invaded or the invader had no previous exposure resulting in much death.
I believe that before we venture out among the stars we need to deal with this issue first. Unless we pursue unmanned exploration first we are probably just rolling the dice. Several years ago I communicated with an NSF sociologist who indicated that unmanned exploration was the intended direction for long range exploration(the public be damned). He gave me some software used for creating a facsimile of an individuals' personality in a computer. I believe it is intended in the event we actually make some kind of contact with other life forms. I still have the software in my computer files.
09 Nov 09
Originally posted by caissad4We are for sure going to go unmanned first because you have to develop technology incrementally. We have no choice in this. First we have to deal with our own solar system, then maybe in a couple hundred years or so, start sending probes to nearby stars. One thing that throws a wrench into this process is the fact that telescopes both on Earth and in space are getting so powerful now that they may supplement the data that probes could get up close.
I fail to see the point at this juncture in our development.
What happened when Europeans came in contact with Native Americans ?
What happened when Europeans "conquered" Africa ?
Answer: Spreading of diseases which either the invaded or the invader had no previous exposure resulting in much death.
I believe that before we venture out among the stars ...[text shortened]... e some kind of contact with other life forms. I still have the software in my computer files.
The idea that we may come into contact with alien spoor and virus bits and so forth is pure speculation at this point, we don't even know if alien life is based on carbon, probably is but that is not proven since we don't even have a good handle on what started life on Earth.
I think you are tilting at invisible windmills with that argument.
We also don't know for 100% sure if there are ANY other life forms in the known universe, my gut feeling says we would be one of trillions but that may just be our anthropomorphic bias leading us on.
In short, the technology has to come first before we even have to crack the issue of contamination.
We are in fact doing just that with the work going on with Mars with probes there already and the upcoming probes to the moons of Jupiter and Saturn, some of which are suspected to already be harboring life. There is a lot of intense activity to keep both our lives safe from possible contamination with so far unproven cases of alien life in our own solar system and vice versa.
14 Nov 09
Originally posted by WheelyNot so's you would notice. The Oort cloud is still under the influence of our sun's gravity, a cloud of comets and dust bound to our gravity and that extends perhaps a half light year, or trillions of miles out. The voyagers are barely past pluto, only what, 9sh billion miles out? That is not exactly interstellar and besides, they are still going through the heliopause, I don't think the data says they have gone into pristine interstellar space yet. It's a bit early for bragging rights. It's not so 20th, it's more like MAYBE we can do it in 2300 IF we survive this sucky century.
Meh, interstellar travel is SOOO last century.
It´s already been done. the voyager space crafts, or at least one of them, have already left the Suns area of influence and are now in true interstellar space.
14 Nov 09
Originally posted by sonhouseWe survived the Cold War. We'll survive this century.
Not so's you would notice. The Oort cloud is still under the influence of our sun's gravity, a cloud of comets and dust bound to our gravity and that extends perhaps a half light year, or trillions of miles out. The voyagers are barely past pluto, only what, 9sh billion miles out? That is not exactly interstellar and besides, they are still going through t ...[text shortened]... s not so 20th, it's more like MAYBE we can do it in 2300 IF we survive this sucky century.
14 Nov 09
Originally posted by AThousandYoungYes, I have no doubt about that, but will our technology be able to survive as well. If we are all thrown back to Amish farming for instance, we wouldn't have much chance of redeveloping high technology for centuries, and maybe if we lost high tech, there would be a backlash with new anti-tech religions springing up making it like Salem except the new witches would be those trying to re-invent high tech of the 19th,20th and 21st centuries. For instance, what happens to the space program if our basic stupidity causes a new ice age with our meddling around with climate and such? I would suspect there would be no space program for millenia in that case. I have no doubt humanity would still be around in such a situation but at what level?
We survived the Cold War. We'll survive this century.