http://www.space.com/18089-earth-size-alien-planet-alpha-centauri.html Smallest planet so far discovered outside of our solar system. This has great implications. The worry has been for a while that Earth size planets may have been too difficult to discover. The fact that one has been discovered in the closest system to ours is great news for any possible future space travellers.
One day we will arrive there, will take centuries. Our technology has to devellop way way further. Fifty years of space travel isn't much, and over the last decades not much happened to increase our speed in space. A few small solar sail experiments and a few new engines (solid and plasma) We need anti-matter or plutonium or nuclear fusion engines or something extreme powerful we haven't discovered yet (scientists could discover new details of nature via the Large Hadron Colider and math)
Yes this is very important and potentially meaningful. Here's a lot more detail from 'National Geographic'. http://news.nationalgeographic.com/news/2012/10/121017-alpha-centauri-new-planet-science-space-udry/
It might as well not exist. We can't build machines that withstand cosmic radiation, micro-meteor impacts, parts breaking down, supply consumption, people breathing, etc. for 40 years.
And we still haven't built a Daedalus. What they said is still correct. Too bad that no tech we build for space travel would survive a 40 year transit.
The Daedalus design would travel to Alpha Centauri at about 10% of the speed of light. This is using current technology.
No it isn't. Daedalus is a theoretical future technology. We can't build one today even if we had the will or the money. We just simply cannot produce anti-matter at the industrial levels required for a Daedalus.
And though this one is too hot for life forms, as we know them, to exist because it is too close to its' Sun, they think it very possible there may be one more comparable to ours within that Galaxy. They say they have streched them selves to the furthest point they can, looking for this planet, though ............ It must have been so exciting for the finders
For once we agree almost 100%! Almost because the last I read Daedalus was capable of doing the trip in 50 years not 40. Also the old crude Orion system is easier, cheaper and doable today than Daedalus. The kicker is that Orion may be faster than Daedalus (12% vs. 15% c). And I want to go now, not ten years or five years from now. Realkyt if not for the hand wringers we could have buile a unmanned interstellar orion type craft nearly 50 years ago. Orion uses 1950/60 technology in the forms a bombs (or h bombs in a later version) pushing against a plate to attain 5% to 15% light speed which is orders of magnitude brutally faster than the fastest vessel man has fielded so far. Daedalus uses ‘confined fusion’ may be better than Orion’s rude crude and unrefined propulsion system. But more tech advanced is not always better, the old stuff works better in sometimes, its like a Harley dragster with its push rod motor pumping out 200-600 hp in modified form and I love hogs. However the world hates nukes along with the Nuclear test ban treaty caused the jello spined leaders in the USA to shut down all spacecraft nuclear fission and fusion engine research and testing. So stupid. So ignorant! I am still angry at NASA and the PC science world for such truly dumb decisions as nixing Orion, the SCCC at Texas, the moon missions, the mars mission (by 1985) now ALL MANNED MISSIONS are gone the way of T rex with promises in lieu of the real thing. reva
That's even worse. We can at least make anti-matter now, we still can't get fusion reactions to work right.
That's even worse. We can at least make anti-matter now, we still can't get fusion reactions to work right.
Read my reply again s-l-o-wl-e-y. Orion uses on the shelf technology. And I said a robot mission would be best using the technology first even though its well understood and doable. It is the most probable to succeed in fast spacecraft (compared to chemical rockets). Lastly if you are going to disagree with something I say you should at least state why you think Orion propulsion etc would be doomed to failure, otherwise your rebuttal is meaningless opinion. reva
Since I don’t post too much here in the science and tech maybe should fill the members in on some FYI stuff. Sometimes I get the question; What does a Christian (Zionist*) minister know about science? Answer; Although my masters degree is in the philosophy of religion (a subgroup of Comparative religions) I answer that before I settled on my MA area of study I majored in science related fields for my BS/BA. Also I am a serious amateur astronomer. * I also am asked what a Zionist Christian is. Contrary to PC opinion a Zionist C. is simply a Christian that believes biblical material that Israel is the Hebrews (now called Jewish people) original home and that that claim is evidence (one of many evidences including non-biblical evidences). Secular to support their claim that Israel is rightfully theirs. Just some background info. reva~
Antimatter will not be used for propulsion of any type for the foreseeable future. I would say that fusion would have a much better chance in being developed for our uses much sooner than matter anti matter reactions. Anti matter is exceedingly difficult to produce and to store after production. For example ; all the antimatter we humans* have to show after decades of production is about 20 nanograms of antimatter, and what we do have is stored in SCSC constantly moving in the magnetic suspension of the superconducting magnetic field and near complete vacuum. Just in case you dont know what a nanogram is, one nanogram is a billionth of a gram. Lastly Orion which I am still a proponent of Orion which in its first generation will or would have used fission reactions NOT fusion reactions. And the chain reaction is not 'controlled' and is only limited in the material used in the nuclear pulses. * of course its a fact that there are untold tons of antimatter in deep space. Even a small thin band of antimatter exists in the earths magnetic field. There are many SciFi stories based in fact where space craft of the distant future harvest anti matter from space instead of producing in in earthly SCSC's like CERN. http://van.physics.illinois.edu/qa/....physics.illinois.edu/qa/listing.php?id=20051 - http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_much_antimatter_have_humans_ever_made http://articles.latimes.com/.../la-sci-thunderstorms-antimatter-20110112 reva
No machines that we can built that are complex enough to reach Alpha Centauri in less than 100 years are going to be able to survive for 100 years. The whole system will breakdown from needed maintenance and lack of spareparts. Just look at the Voyagers. A lot of their systems have already deteriorated and they haven't gone a tenth as far. They also were designed to be very simple, not complex like any ship with an active propulsion system would be.