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Post by matador on Feb 22, 2016 21:13:11 GMT -6
NASA has been working on several solutions to gain some speed for travel to Mars. Currently it takes 3 months but one engineer has come up with a solution that would only take 3 days. Called photonic propulsion, basically a laser pushing a craft at incredible speeds. One estimate is that while a laser beam has no mass it does have energy and momentum. His idea is to put the laser on earth and point it at a space sail to push the craft.
I am thinking that maybe put a laser on the craft and point it at a planet and since the planet won't move it would allow the craft to push itself. I could use a planet, an asteroid, a moon, or anything else that is basically stationary in space. A space craft would be out of the solar system in a few months instead of 30 years. Instead of taking 30,000 years to get to our nearest star it would take a fraction of that time. Speeds upto and maybe over 100 million miles an hour could be accomplished. Granted not the speed of light but getting closer to it. At least it is a step until science can figure out how to manually warp space and create multiple warps.
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Post by rdlb on Feb 26, 2016 20:29:51 GMT -6
NASA has been working on several solutions to gain some speed for travel to Mars. Currently it takes 3 months but one engineer has come up with a solution that would only take 3 days. Called photonic propulsion, basically a laser pushing a craft at incredible speeds. One estimate is that while a laser beam has no mass it does have energy and momentum. His idea is to put the laser on earth and point it at a space sail to push the craft. I am thinking that maybe put a laser on the craft and point it at a planet and since the planet won't move it would allow the craft to push itself. I could use a planet, an asteroid, a moon, or anything else that is basically stationary in space. A space craft would be out of the solar system in a few months instead of 30 years. Instead of taking 30,000 years to get to our nearest star it would take a fraction of that time. Speeds upto and maybe over 100 million miles an hour could be accomplished. Granted not the speed of light but getting closer to it. At least it is a step until science can figure out how to manually warp space and create multiple warps. Then, slowing it down?
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Post by matador on Feb 28, 2016 17:26:49 GMT -6
NASA has been working on several solutions to gain some speed for travel to Mars. Currently it takes 3 months but one engineer has come up with a solution that would only take 3 days. Called photonic propulsion, basically a laser pushing a craft at incredible speeds. One estimate is that while a laser beam has no mass it does have energy and momentum. His idea is to put the laser on earth and point it at a space sail to push the craft. I am thinking that maybe put a laser on the craft and point it at a planet and since the planet won't move it would allow the craft to push itself. I could use a planet, an asteroid, a moon, or anything else that is basically stationary in space. A space craft would be out of the solar system in a few months instead of 30 years. Instead of taking 30,000 years to get to our nearest star it would take a fraction of that time. Speeds upto and maybe over 100 million miles an hour could be accomplished. Granted not the speed of light but getting closer to it. At least it is a step until science can figure out how to manually warp space and create multiple warps. Then, slowing it down? Well, when you get to a planet you want to explore then turn the laser to that planet. But once out of the solar system there is nothing but empty space. With no friction to slow you down you could travel for millions of miles before slowing down.
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Post by rdlb on Mar 3, 2016 19:31:30 GMT -6
Well, when you get to a planet you want to explore then turn the laser to that planet. But once out of the solar system there is nothing but empty space. With no friction to slow you down you could travel for millions of miles before slowing down. Well that would be one "runway" an individual would not want to overshoot.
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Post by matador on Mar 15, 2016 22:30:56 GMT -6
Well, when you get to a planet you want to explore then turn the laser to that planet. But once out of the solar system there is nothing but empty space. With no friction to slow you down you could travel for millions of miles before slowing down. Well that would be one "runway" an individual would not want to overshoot. Well not really. When we actually get that far to space travel it will not be an individual or even a couple of individuals. It will be families since to travel those distances will take two or three generations or more. There would be at least a hundred families, many doctors, teachers, and all the facilities to train the next generation to take over the responsibilities of the older generation as they die off. You've see Star Trek, the ship that these people would be on would be as large or larger than the 'Enterprise'. That Sci-Fi ship held a crew of over 1000 plus children, this new ship would be about the same or larger in size and function. Unlike the 'Enterprise' this new ship would take generations to travel from solar system to solar system, not hours, days, or a month. Star Trek was set in the future, the 23rd century, but I don't believe we will be that advanced by then and for sure not be in contact with a variety of alien life forms similar to humans. Here it is 2016 and we have one satellite that has just recently left the solar system and at best, while we have put a man on the moon, we really have just been in near earth space nothing farther.
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Post by lowell on Mar 15, 2016 23:06:10 GMT -6
Science had some success recently getting crops to grow on simulated Moon soil and Martian soil. They used grass clippings mixed with the soil to enhance the water retention of the soil. A previous attempt without grass clippings failed. The Martian soil was about twice as effective at growing crops as the Moon soil was.
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Post by matador on Mar 15, 2016 23:45:27 GMT -6
Science had some success recently getting crops to grow on simulated Moon soil and Martian soil. They used grass clippings mixed with the soil to enhance the water retention of the soil. A previous attempt without grass clippings failed. The Martian soil was about twice as effective at growing crops as the Moon soil was. That's good when they colonize Mars. But in space travel they would not carry soil. They would incorporate hydroponic gardening to grow food.
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Post by matador on Mar 15, 2016 23:57:11 GMT -6
I was thinking that if they were to build a craft as big as it would take to make space travel viable then they would have to build it outside the orbit of the moon. Even a space station of any real size would have to be far enough away so that the gravitational pull would be slight and out of the way of space trash.
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