Pros and Cons of Various Methods of Interstellar Travel

universetoday.com ^ | Matt Williams

[BenLurkin]

It’s a staple of science fiction.... the idea of sending out spaceships with colonists and transplanting the seed of humanity among the stars. Between discovering new worlds, becoming an interstellar species, and maybe even finding extra-terrestrial civilizations, the dream of spreading beyond the Solar System is one that can’t become reality soon enough!

For decades, scientists have contemplated how humanity might one-day reach achieve this lofty goal. And the range of concepts they have come up with present a whole lot of pros and cons. These pros and cons were raised in a recent study by Martin Braddock, a member of the Mansfield and Sutton Astronomical Society, a Fellow of the Royal Society of Biology, and a Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society.

The study, titled “Concepts for Deep Space Travel: From Warp Drives and Hibernation to World Ships and Cryogenics“, recently appeared in the scientific journal Current Trends in Biomedical Engineering and Biosciences (a Juniper Journals publication). As Braddock indicates in his study, the question of how human beings could explore neighboring star systems has become more relevant in recent years thanks to exoplanet discoveries.

…

All told, Dr. Braddock considers five principle means for mounting crewed missions to other star systems in his study. These include super-luminal (aka/ FTL) travel, hibernation or stasis regimes, negligible senescence (aka. anti-aging) engineering, world ships capable of supporting multiple generations of travellers (aka. generation ships), and cyogenic freezing technologies.

For FTL travel, the advantages are obvious, and while it remains entirely theoretical at this point, there are concepts being investigated today. A notable FTL concept – known as the Alcubierre Warp Drive – is currently being researched by multiple organizations, which includes the Tau Zero Foundation and the Advanced Propulsion Physics Laboratory: Eagleworks (APPL:E) at NASA’s Johnson Space Center.

[wastedyears]

I doubt a ram scoop would work because you’d need to do aero braking, all while not accidentally not performing a slingshot maneuver out of the system.

[SuperLuminal]

There is no shorter distance between two points than a straight line. Period.

Well...If the two separate real points are in the span of the straight line, this might be true.

But consider a single point by it self...If there is both a real (non-imaginary) and complex (imaginary) mathematical solution to identify that point, one might also say that the shortest distance between two points is a point....{:-)

[FredZarguna]

You can imagine a shorter distance between two points than a straight line, and if you do you’re delusional.

[FredZarguna]

The complex plane is a metric space. If the points are distinct, the ordinary rules still apply.

[KTM rider]

"Time does not exist. Time is a construct of the human mind based on observations of movements of heavenly bodies.

that would only be plausible if you subscribe to the falsifiable Anthropic Principle.

Impirical proof that time exists is the principle of Entropy.

Albert Einstein's general theory of relativity explains that what we perceive as the force of gravity in fact arises from the curvature of space and time. Einstein proposed that objects such as the sun and the Earth change this geometry.

if you fall from a cliff then time will become very real