Our current space tech so depressing

[poopypoo]

I can't say I'm in a hurry to discover new forms of intelligent life. Although it would perhaps jog our perspectives with regards to how we view the human experience (and our lack of respect for it), I generally feel like our resources are much better spent solving problems we have right here right now. The space program is mildly useful, but I think it is most useful to explore our own solar system. The space program's primary use is to give people a subject to rally around.

 

[Guden Oden]

Would that energy dissipate through the entire vehicle or simply give the grain of sand extreme penetration and create a tiny hole through a lot of the vehicle...

From what I've read, much of the kinetic energy would be converted into radiant energy, x-rays and the like, and the end result would basically be a whole lot of heat suddenly being released in a tiny point, like a big load of explosives going off. It may well be that this release would be in some kind of cone-shape pointing away from the direction of impact instead of blowing up in a roughly spherical formation like with a lump of conventional explosives or simply penetrating straight through. Nevertheless, it would cause quite a bit of mayhem in whatever it strikes...

 

[BlueTsunami]

But...how lackluster must a space program be (USA) if we never landed on the moon :? .....we did put a rover on mars, thats cool in itself..

 

[DemoCoder]

Alot of the stuff in the Shuttle is still cutting edge, or simply, is the best available alternative known. Space technology isn't semiconductors. If I need a material with a melting point of 3000C, there are a limited number of such materials possible, for example. Once you find one with the properties that meet your requirements, it will be hard to improve on it.


Pax, interstellar ion propulsion is not feasible with any near-term tech. The amount of energy you need to accelerate a payload to .5C is astronomical. Such a big powerplant would be too big to carry with you. Not to mention that drag from interstellar gas will be an issue.

There are only two solutions: antimatter (way far out) and laser-sail propulsion (leave the powerplant on earth), which requires exotic sails, and super-duper lasers with lenses the size of the MOON. (see StarWisp)


Look up Project Daedulus for a real world attempt to design an interstellar probe using "near term" technology.

There is a reason why we can't go zipping about the universe like in Sci-Fi. It's called conservation of energy. To accelerate over cosmological distances takes unfathomable amounts of energy. To open wormholes, warp space, and what have you, also takes unfathomable amounts of "negative energy".

In other words, there ain't no free lunch. Unless we run into a preexisting stable space warp built by natural cosmologically sized processes, we are not going to go warping around the universe anytime soon.

 

[Kanyamagufa]

In other words, there ain't no free lunch. Unless we run into a preexisting stable space warp built by natural cosmologically sized processes, we are not going to go warping around the universe anytime soon.

Bummer.

 

[pax]

http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/science/nature/4110912.stm

This holds hope... Can hardly wait to see how well it does...

 

[g__day]

Interdimensional travel thru membranes in connected m-spaces - leave all these lightspeed limitations in your last dimension.

Seriously - it could be theoretical physics and large colliders that give us a better understanding of reality, what its penultimate laws are, and which if any can be bent.

 

[sunscar]

Easier.... Non-traditional transit via undulation of space around the craft, and or body. It's why the universe can speed up even beyond the speed of light. There's no limit to how fast that can be, even in excess of the C value of average space. Keep in mind that light directly in front of you will also accelerate accordingly so in that respect you never exceed light speed within your trajectory ray, only that of light outside your trajectory ray.

Problem becomes "how do you build such an engine/motivator?". It's not an impossibility because we can see it going on right now, we only have to figure out how to duplicate it. To do so would require huge quantities of hyper dense matter, maybe a quantum condensate. Still working out the semantics.