Interplanetary travel!

[orcot]

Looks like Alpha Centauri is safe for the next 5,000 years at least. At least from us anyway.

Now your exagerating 5000 years going back that's when the first word was writen down I'm fairly sure the first probes will be visiting the stars before 500 years from now

The proposed VASIMR propulsion system, possibly able to achieve speeds up to 300 km/s, would shorten the journey to a "mere" 4,200 years —still firmly beyond the current lifespan of both man and machine

(wiki)
Okay perhaps so if we build a engine ready to be developed in the next 20 years in a time period of 800 years then it should take 5000 but I've got greater hopes for the future

 

[RickyH]

star trek ftw....

 

[jumpercable]

Now your exagerating 5000 years going back that's when the first word was writen down I'm fairly sure the first probes will be visiting the stars before 500 years from now


(wiki)
Okay perhaps so if we build a engine ready to be developed in the next 20 years in a time period of 800 years then it should take 5000 but I've got greater hopes for the future

Going to Alpha Centauri? We are going to be real lucky in the next 30 or 40 years, if we land some men on Mars and bring them back again. Right now, we still haven't got the rocket technology to get men back to the moon again, let alone getting them safely back to Earth and it looks like any other exotic propulsion system you can dream up (rocket, antigravity, electro-magnetic or otherwise) that is designed to take man to other nearby solar sytems is just that, a dream. At least for now that is. For the long term, I would just send some robots out to deep space and let them do all of the talking, if they find someone to talk to that is. And that's a 'Big' if.

 

[orcot]

the next 30 or 40 years

Make it 20 or it's actually going to be a VASIMR engine for Mars. And that's no exotic engine it's a real and (earth) tested engine. It basicly already exist only it's a bid heavy and takes a lot of power but it pretty much exists.
It doesn't realy matter if we realy go to Mars now do we. If we would have gone in the 60 it would be something like a entire fleet that would be gone for years. In 2030 the trip is going to take around 260 days and perhaps we 'l be able to manufactor or own fuel on the planet, in 2040 we proberly have VASIMR engines that do the trip in 4 months ad a tether and a used rocket casting and you have artificial gravity, in 2050 we proberly going to have a space elevator and then their's a whole new range of options.

I actualy did some rechearge on this the closest star proxima centauri has been reacheble since 1969 with the launch of pionier 10 and it would have taken him 103 846 years voyager 2 would have done it in 81 818 years in 1979 the fastest probe ever (but due to it's orbit it wil never leave the solar system) helios 2 would have traveled the distance at it max speed in 18 000 years. The future VASIMR (if it reeches it's max speed of 300km/s) would reach it in 4200 years. From 103 846 to 4 200 is only 4% of the original numbre (okay still alot) but then again it didn't involve any fancy solar sails, ot further farfetched ID's. If you like to get further on this you get project daedalus and project longshot that could reach proxima centauri in less then 50 and less then 100 years. That's with "today" technology but not a agreeable price tag.

 

[jumpercable]

Make it 20 or it's actually going to be a VASIMR engine for Mars. And that's no exotic engine it's a real and (earth) tested engine. It basicly already exist only it's a bid heavy and takes a lot of power but it pretty much exists.
It doesn't realy matter if we realy go to Mars now do we. If we would have gone in the 60 it would be something like a entire fleet that would be gone for years. In 2030 the trip is going to take around 260 days and perhaps we 'l be able to manufactor or own fuel on the planet, in 2040 we proberly have VASIMR engines that do the trip in 4 months ad a tether and a used rocket casting and you have artificial gravity, in 2050 we proberly going to have a space elevator and then their's a whole new range of options.

I actualy did some rechearge on this the closest star proxima centauri has been reacheble since 1969 with the launch of pionier 10 and it would have taken him 103 846 years voyager 2 would have done it in 81 818 years in 1979 the fastest probe ever (but due to it's orbit it wil never leave the solar system) helios 2 would have traveled the distance at it max speed in 18 000 years. The future VASIMR (if it reeches it's max speed of 300km/s) would reach it in 4200 years. From 103 846 to 4 200 is only 4% of the original numbre (okay still alot) but then again it didn't involve any fancy solar sails, ot further farfetched ID's. If you like to get further on this you get project daedalus and project longshot that could reach proxima centauri in less then 50 and less then 100 years. That's with "today" technology but not a agreeable price tag.

Unfortunately, for the so-called VASIMR thruster to be useful for a mission to Mars, will need four to six megawatts of power. This amount of power can only come from an on-board nuclear reactor. That hardware does 'not' exist and probably 'won't' exist for a very, very long time. Plus, there are other issues and problems to overcome. Such as the very, very heavy super-conducting magnets that are also needed inorder to create the strong magnetic field for the so-called super-heated plasma to produce a moderated thrust. Of course there is progress made in reducing the weight of the super-conducting magnets and that looks promising, but don't hold your breath of the VASIMR engine pushing a payload to Mars anytime to soon or maybe ever?.

 

[draqon]

god, just use the ion propulsion engine just like the deepspace one had. Actually first accelerate fast with some chemical propulsion and than have ion propulsion keep that acceleration up.

 

[Sci-Phenomena]

From what I have read on different NASA web pages, I've found that there is new propulsion systems coming out, namely ion propulsion. Fuelless projectiles, using energy in the form of electricity. Some day we may even figure out how to interact with the fabric of space to get us places faster than ever before.

 

[draqon]

From what I have read on different NASA web pages, I've found that there is new propulsion systems coming out, namely ion propulsion. Fuelless projectiles, using energy in the form of electricity. Some day we may even figure out how to interact with the fabric of space to get us places faster than ever before.

you got to be kidding me? ion propulsion is new? !!! lol ion propulsion engines have been here since the 70's! And they had been tested on deep space one and other space probes.

 

[Singularity]

jumpercable heres your worst Nightmare come true, u alien.


How to reach the nearest star before the end of this century.


Create a giant rocket accelerator around Jupiter, just like the Saturn rings. Basically a magnetic accelerator on a vast scale, just like our backyard MagLev.

The rocket is made of material from Single Molecule Magnets. The accelerator starts spinning it around Jupiter and quickly takes it to 99.99% speed of light.

And then just release it in the direction of Proxima Centauri. So simple , no need of fuel payloads.

U ALIEN ARE GONA PAY FOR WHAT U DID TO US, :jason:
SPECAILLY FOR MAKING ME SO INTELLIGENT HENCE MAKING MY LIFE HELL.

 

[orcot]

smart 1 ion thruster is hoplesly outdated by now.
The european DS4G ion thrusters is the new and better version
it's 10 times more fuel efficient. With a equal amount of fuel this engine could leave the solar system in stead of reaching the moon.
http://www.esa.int/techresources/ESTEC-Article-fullArticle_par-28_1134728785014.html

That hardware does 'not' exist and probably 'won't' exist for a very, very long time

this was the smallest class of nuclair submarines I could find at the moment. Capable to propel a ship of 114 m okay NASA's spacecrafts aren't that big be so isn't the nuclear reactor for some reason the military finds the specifics abouth these reactors dimensions top secret.
So (small) nuclear powered energy sources may not be so far in the future as you think. But you do make a point that the equipment is rather heavy. Either way I don't think that the first stellar ship wil be launched from the surface of the earth

 

[Sci-Phenomena]

But at what speed can the DS4G perform at?

 

[orcot]

from the article

The test model achieved voltage differences as high as 30kV and produced an ion exhaust plume that travelled at 210,000 m/s, over four times faster than state-of-the-art ion engine designs achieve. This makes it four times more fuel efficient, and also enables an engine design which is many times more compact than present thrusters,

Okay that's the maximum speed (0.0007%c)that may actually be achieved with extra planetary slingshots, the actual speed depends on how much fuel is on board and how much mass the vehicle has.
This vehicle would take the trip to alpha centauri in 6 143 years asuming it's at it's top speed from the very beginning, so it's start's rivaling the VASIMR

That's the beauty of space technologie it's still changing fast.

 

[Singularity]

...
How to reach the nearest star before the end of this century.


Create a giant rocket accelerator around Jupiter, just like the Saturn rings. Basically a magnetic accelerator on a vast scale, just like our backyard MagLev.

The rocket is made of material from Single Molecule Magnets. The accelerator starts spinning it around Jupiter and quickly takes it to 99.99% speed of light.

And then just release it in the direction of Proxima Centauri. So simple , no need of fuel payloads.
....

http://www.maglev2000.com/apps/apps-08.html

http://www.maglev2000.com/apps/apps-08-b.html

 

[orcot]

if I'm right and that's a tube that the compressed air in front would act like a gun with a cloched barrel. It simply can't work.

 

[Prince_James]

ORcot:

Maglevs and coil guns use magnets to speed up projectiles to ludicrous speeds. You can build one at home.

 

[orcot]

wouldn't the object inside the barrel push the air creating a over presure in front until the sideway pressure is strong enough to break the tube?

It seems like it would work in a vacuum or on a open tube altough their should be considreble air drag.

 

[pinkiss]

Originally Posted by Singularity
...
How to reach the nearest star before the end of this century.


Create a giant rocket accelerator around Jupiter, just like the Saturn rings. Basically a magnetic accelerator on a vast scale, just like our backyard MagLev.

The rocket is made of material from Single Molecule Magnets. The accelerator starts spinning it around Jupiter and quickly takes it to 99.99% speed of light.

And then just release it in the direction of Proxima Centauri. So simple , no need of fuel payloads.

Lets say if it would succeeded and you would be sitting in the shuttle or rocket and someone quickly took you to the 99.99% speed of light imagine where your ass would occur from this speed .When plane takes off the gravity is high enough to pull you to the chair and its only speed of about 200-400km/h .Soo the second question after someone discovers how to reach C speed will be how to survive in the speed of light

 

[Janus58]

Originally Posted by Singularity
...
How to reach the nearest star before the end of this century.


Create a giant rocket accelerator around Jupiter, just like the Saturn rings. Basically a magnetic accelerator on a vast scale, just like our backyard MagLev.

The rocket is made of material from Single Molecule Magnets. The accelerator starts spinning it around Jupiter and quickly takes it to 99.99% speed of light.

And then just release it in the direction of Proxima Centauri. So simple , no need of fuel payloads.

Lets say if it would succeeded and you would be sitting in the shuttle or rocket and someone quickly took you to the 99.99% speed of light imagine where your ass would occur from this speed .When plane takes off the gravity is high enough to pull you to the chair and its only speed of about 200-400km/h .Soo the second question after someone discovers how to reach C speed will be how to survive in the speed of light

It's not the speed, its the acceleration. How much acceleration you have to endure depends on how fast you want to get up to speed. You could slowly accelerate up to near c and never feel more than 1 g.

That being said, the maglev around Jupiter involves a lot of acceleration. No matter how slowly you try to get up to near c, there will be a centripetal acceleration needed to keep you moving in the circular path around Jupiter that will increase as you increase your speed. You can lessent this by making the radius of the circle larger, but to bring the g force you will experience down to managable levels at 99.99% of c you need a circle with a radius of hundreds of times the radius of Pluto's orbit around the Sun.

 

[John Connellan]

Why not accelerate this ship around the sun?! Oh yeah, G forces.

 

[draqon]

Why not accelerate this ship around the sun?! Oh yeah, G forces.

Jupiter ride sounds cooler.