Will travel to the stars ever be possible?

Discussion in 'Astronomy, Exobiology, & Cosmology' started by pluto2, Jan 8, 2014.

  1. pluto2 Banned Valued Senior Member

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    Do you think we will ever be able to travel to other solar systems?

    Interstellar travel, if ever achieved, will definitely be a collective effort of more than one country. But even then, I don't think we will go there unless we have a very good reason to go there.
     
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  3. Sorcerer Put a Spell on you Registered Senior Member

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  5. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    Interstellar travel is beyond our capabilities at this time. But that doesn't mean it always will be.
    Probably the first efforts will be in generation type ships, or even cryogenics........
    Other various methods with nuclear powered engines, scram jets, light sails, Ion drives are all at this time being researched for possibilities.
    Then maybe with continued development in technology and accumulated knowledge we just may be able to harness the energy necessary to warp space/time. Or even create/discover our own wormholes.
    A time frame?? Realistically I probably cannot see any attempt at manned inter stellar travel by one of the above means for at least 150 years.
    I would love to be proved wrong though.
    I believe, given time, we will achieve all that is allowed by GR and the laws of physics.

    At present we do have a couple of orginizations dedicated to achieving stellar travel as soon as is practicable.

    Marc Millis, A former NASA ádvanced propulsion Engineer belongs to "Tau Zero Foundation" at http://www.tauzero.aero/
    another is Icarus InterStellar at http://www.icarusinterstellar.org/
    and the Hundred Year Star Ship company at http://schedule.sxsw.com/2013/events/event_IAP2093 and lead by Dr. Mae Jemison former NASA Astronaut and the first Black American Woman in space. This company hopes to achieve it in 100 years.

    These companies are at present adapting all possible new technologies to the goal of facilitating our journey to the Stars and beyond.
     
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  7. Buddha12 Valued Senior Member

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    Going somewhere that you do not know much about isn't a very good idea. Sending robotic spacecraft to other stars to gather information about them would be a better idea.
     
  8. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    Robotic probes will always go hand in hand with manned exploration.
     
  9. dumbest man on earth Real Eyes Realize Real Lies Valued Senior Member

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    Robotic probes have their uses in "interplanetary" travels within the confines of our "solar system" - to a small extent.

    However, "Interstellar Robotic Probes" would be nearly useless considering the distances and time involved in traveling to even the nearest Star within our own Galaxy.

    If we are in the future able to access or construct a "Wormhole" or "Doorway" to "Shortcut" the distance or time involved in an "Interstellar Journey", we would still have to be able to access or construct a "Wormhole" or "Doorway" at the other end of that "Journey" to send any telemetry or data back to us (the point of origin).
     
  10. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    I will never lessen the importance of robotic probes and landers in space exploration, both now and in the future when we go to the stars.
    They will always serve a roll, but in the end, as some old General was known to have said, it's boots on the ground that count.
     
  11. Buddha12 Valued Senior Member

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    As long as the ground you walk upon isn't contaminated with nasty things that would kill a human or make them ill.
     
  12. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    If that's the case, we'll modify our EVA suits to compensate.

    You know that there once was a time when man thought if he sailed beyond the horizon, he would fall off the edge of the Earth.
     
  13. Boris2 Valued Senior Member

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    why would they think that when they knew the earth was a sphere? that people thought the earth was flat is a myth. the ancient greeks knew it to be a sphere. maybe at some point before recorded history people thought the earth was flat.

    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Myth_of_the_Flat_Earth
     
  14. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    I never specifically mentioned Columbus


    Flat Earth Theory
    by ABBY CESSNA on DECEMBER 28, 2009

    Want to stay on top of all the space news? Follow @universetoday on Twitter

    Flat Earth Theory
    Model of a flat Earth
    The flat Earth theory was believed by many cultures around the world including Ancient Egyptian and Babylonian cultures as well as China up to the last few hundred years. The flat Earth theory states that the world is a flat disk rather than a sphere. As early as the fourth century B.C. however, philosophers and scientists realized that the Earth was actually a sphere. Aristotle was one Greek philosopher who advocated that Earth was a sphere. This debate has raged on in many cultures throughout the centuries. Now, some believe that most educated people since around the fourth century B.C. and on realized that the Earth was a sphere, and that the belief that the flat earth theory was widespread is just a myth that took root in the 19th century. It is now thought by many, including the Historical Association based in England, that Columbus did not believe the Earth was flat and that this story was merely a myth spread by Washington Irving in his book about Columbus.



    Read more: http://www.universetoday.com/48753/flat-earth-theory/#ixzz2pqkjkr4p
     
  15. Buddha12 Valued Senior Member

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    I believe that many have.
     
  16. Boris2 Valued Senior Member

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    well the quote that sailors thought they would sail of the edge is a European construct. if you have a reference that the Chinese, Egyptian or Babylonians saying this then i would like to see it. that is why i quoted what Columbus' crew thought.
     
  17. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    Is it?
    I could very well ask you for references to show the Chinese, Egyptian or Babylonians did not think the same thing.
    It seems logical to me if a civilization thought the world was flat, that one may possibly fall off the edge if one sailed far enough.
     
  18. Boris2 Valued Senior Member

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    the only claim i am making is that the europeans, columbus' crew in particular, didn't think that. and i have made a reference for that. you are the one saying that you didn't specifically mean them then gave a reference to other cultures thinking the earth was flat. it is up to you to give a reference that they thought they would fall off the edge. otherwise it could be said that no one actually thought that.
     
  19. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    Columbus may not have thought that...and maybe neither did his crew. I'm sure there were some around who thought that though. You gave a WIKI reference...
    __Here's mine....._________________________________________
    The Flat Earth model is an archaic belief that the Earth's shape is a plane or disk. Many ancient cultures have had conceptions of a flat Earth, including Greece until the classical period, the Bronze Age and Iron Age civilizations of the Near East until the Hellenistic period, India until the Gupta period (early centuries AD) and China until the 17th century. It was also typically held in the aboriginal cultures of the Americas, and a flat Earth domed by the firmament in the shape of an inverted bowl is common in pre-scientific societies.[1]
    The paradigm of a spherical Earth was developed in Greek astronomy, beginning with Pythagoras (6th century BC), although most Pre-Socratics retained the flat Earth model. Aristotle accepted the spherical shape of the Earth on empirical grounds around 330 BC, and knowledge of the spherical Earth gradually began to spread beyond the Hellenistic world from then on

    WIKI:
    _______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

    Again, I did not specifically mention Columbus, or the period for that matter...That was your assumption.
    Believing the Earth was flat, would logically lead to the belief that one could fall off the edge...much as the observed Universal expansion, led to the BB from a point of infinite density.

    If you prefer the unlikely scenario that NO ONE thought that, that's your opinion.
    Mine is that they would certainly have believed that, considering they also believed the Earth was flat.
     
  20. Boris2 Valued Senior Member

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    1,106
    http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flat_Earth

    you will note that not one proposes an edge.

    Lol. that ain't science. proving a negative.

    just to make you happy. i know you like quote mining.
     
  21. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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    You may also note, that a Flat Earth would infer an edge.


    I'm not proving anything.......just offering the much more likely outcome of flat Earthers, believing there would automatically be an edge.


    [shrug] Chinese and Egyptians probably thought the same.
     
  22. Boris2 Valued Senior Member

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    actually it doesn't. an infinite flat earth would have no edge. and to some of these early civilisations anything over a 100 leagues* could be as good as infinite.

    *for illustrative purposes only.
     
  23. paddoboy Valued Senior Member

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