Will Interstellar Travel Ever Be Possible?

Wall Street Pit ^ | February 12, 2017

[doorgunner69]

we will learn to fold it and travel the fold.

You go first.......

[FredZarguna]

In your case, Barbie is right, and unfortunately you are mistaken.

c ≅ 3 x 10⁵ km/sec,

1.74 x 10⁸mi/h / (3600 s/h) * 1.6 km/mi is 77,300 km/sec. Which is indeed about 1/4 c.

[mylife]

Lets go!

http://www.military.com/video/aircraft/military-aircraft/james-may-rides-in-u2-spy-plane/662138937001

[pjd]

It is not true that the last man to walk on the moon has passed. Harrison Schmitt, the only real scientist to walk on the moon, is still with us.

[Oztrich Boy]

I know (see post #44)

I had a franglais moment, confusing mille with million

[Ciaphas Cain]

Possibly. But it will not be feasible for any practical purpose. I’ve wondered lately if the 186,000 miles per second is a universal barrier, not just an upper speed limit for light. Last year it was announced that gravitational waves has been detected for the first time. They most likely had been traveling at the same speed as light across space. Hard to imagine something beating the speed of gravity.

[djf]

Supposedly there is a problem with Einsteins theory of relativity, at least as far as the time component is concerned.

If this problem is indeed correct, then it would be possible to travel to any distance in real time.

At least that’s what I read... I don’t understand the mathematics of it.

[Alas Babylon!]

Its got what plants want!

[FredZarguna]

I question the calculation for the quantity of antimatter necessary to get to Mars. 1 kg of antimatter produces 2mc² ≅ (2 kg)(3*10⁸m/s)² / (4.18 * 10¹⁵ J/megaton) ≅ 43 megatons of high explosive. (You multiply by 2 because 1 kg of antimatter will mutually annihilate an equal amount of matter. Both kg turn into mc²)

For 1/10,000 of a gram, multiply this by 10^-7, which is 4.3 metric tons of high explosive equivalent.

Anybody from NASA or JPL here? Surely a Saturn V rocket burned more fuel than the equivalent of a mere 4300 kilograms of high explosive...

[ctdonath2]

1. You die.
2. No.

To wit, crudely:
1. Hitting anything at relativistic speeds invokes E=mc^2 a la you get a Hiroshima explosion from impacting a dime.
2. Average of stuff in space is one hydrogen atom per cubic meter. Thing is, you’re going a long way and odds are at some point on your very long trip you’ll bump into debris the size of a dime.

[ImaGraftedBranch]

We have to first make it past the van Allen radiation belts. :)

[FredZarguna]

The last man to walk on the moon, Gene Cernan, has indeed passed. There are seven still alive (one, Edgar Mitchell, just died on Friday, February 4th, one day short of 46 years since he walked on the moon -- Feb 5th 1971.)

[IndispensableDestiny]

You need the Infinite Improbability Drive.

[ETL]

[correctthought]

Couldn’t we build an artificial singularity and use it to fold space.

We could call that craft the Event Horizon.

[lurk]

Will Interstellar Travel Ever Be Possible?

Depends on the drugs.

[MHGinTN]

When we learn to go warp, the Vulcans will come to check it out ...

[Rockingham]

The problem of course is that whether antimatter or conventional rocket fuel, raw energy content must be applied so as to produce useful thrust. The dense power of antimatter thus usually requires a reaction mass to generate thrust, and a reaction mass means extra weight.

[grey_whiskers]

I think the most conclusive evidence AGAINST the idea that aliens have visited us, is this.

When one talks to the people who claim to have been visited by Greys, aliens, whatever...

They're invariably reported by country bumpkins who look like they've been hitting the sauce a little too hard.

And all respectable authorities claim, that if the aliens had the technology to land here, they'd know enough to contact the President, etc.

Well, Bill Clinton served two terms and nothing happened.

I mean, c'mon, Bubba Clinton? In the White House?

It's a freakin' two-fer...

[Smittie]

In one word - No. We can’t even synchronize our traffic lights to make it across town in 30 minutes much less travel across the galaxy or the universe and back before the travelers died.