Posted on 02/24/2010 6:12:38 PM PST by KevinDavis
How do you go about pushing the frontiers of propulsion science? Tau Zero Foundation founder Marc Millis discussed the question in a just published interview with h+ Magazine. One aspect of the question is to recognize where we are today. Millis is on record as saying that it may be two to four centuries before were ready to launch an Alpha Centauri mission. Why the delay? The problem is not so much high-tech savvy as it is available energy, and Millis evaluates it by comparing the energy we use for rocketry today vs. the entire Earths consumption of energy.
(Excerpt) Read more at centauri-dreams.org ...
We have to go fringe, zero-point energy coupled with reaction less propulsion turns all of the energy equations inside out- and makes it all possible.
Its always about the energy, fuel and supplies you can carry. You could propel a standard rocket to incredible speeds if you could carry the fuel to do it. Unfortunately I think current technology would require a fuel load in the trillions of tons range, if not more.
It definitely has to be something well outside the range of current thinking.
Also it doesn’t need to be an overnight trip for the first probes. Something that could get there within a human lifetime would be an excellent start. For that matter sending launch and forget craft that would check in every 20 years or so might be valuable info gathering tools for interstellar space.
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