|
|
#82
08-09-2007, 04:19 PM
|
|||
|
|||
Re: First Contact
http://www.hawking.org.uk/lectures/life.html
I also recall him saying something to the effect of contact not being good for mankind given the history of what has happened when a more advanced tribe of humans runs into a less advanced tribe. 
|
|
#83
08-09-2007, 04:39 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: First Contact
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] The galaxy is only of order 100,000 light years across. Even at very slow speeds, it would only take tens of millions of years at worst. [/ QUOTE ] This is really an entirely seperate thread, but it's a lot, lot harder than you think. Carrying the fuel, building things that last that long, preserving yourself against interstellar dust at those speeds, having that kind of technology: It's all really, really hard. It's certainly nowhere near anything we're able to do. [/ QUOTE ] If we wanted to, we could build a starship starting tomorrow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project..._propulsion%29
|
|
#84
08-09-2007, 05:44 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: First Contact
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] The galaxy is only of order 100,000 light years across. Even at very slow speeds, it would only take tens of millions of years at worst. [/ QUOTE ] This is really an entirely seperate thread, but it's a lot, lot harder than you think. Carrying the fuel, building things that last that long, preserving yourself against interstellar dust at those speeds, having that kind of technology: It's all really, really hard. It's certainly nowhere near anything we're able to do. [/ QUOTE ] If we wanted to, we could build a starship starting tomorrow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project..._propulsion%29 [/ QUOTE ] What would be the environmental effects of this even if it is done in empty space?
|
|
#85
08-09-2007, 07:35 PM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: First Contact
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] The galaxy is only of order 100,000 light years across. Even at very slow speeds, it would only take tens of millions of years at worst. [/ QUOTE ] This is really an entirely seperate thread, but it's a lot, lot harder than you think. Carrying the fuel, building things that last that long, preserving yourself against interstellar dust at those speeds, having that kind of technology: It's all really, really hard. It's certainly nowhere near anything we're able to do. [/ QUOTE ] If we wanted to, we could build a starship starting tomorrow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project..._propulsion%29 [/ QUOTE ] this was really cool... I think there are definitely other intelligent beings in the universe somewhere, and probably more intelligent than us too. I dunno when/if we make contact.
|
|
#86
08-10-2007, 01:43 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: First Contact
If there is intelligent life out there, then the universe should be full of von Neumann probes. or we should see evidence of a galaxy where one of these went awry. This is one of the more interesting wikipedia articles I've read.
|
|
#87
08-10-2007, 05:16 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: First Contact
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] The galaxy is only of order 100,000 light years across. Even at very slow speeds, it would only take tens of millions of years at worst. [/ QUOTE ] This is really an entirely seperate thread, but it's a lot, lot harder than you think. Carrying the fuel, building things that last that long, preserving yourself against interstellar dust at those speeds, having that kind of technology: It's all really, really hard. It's certainly nowhere near anything we're able to do. [/ QUOTE ] If we wanted to, we could build a starship starting tomorrow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project..._propulsion%29 [/ QUOTE ] Cool. I was under the impression that ablation was a big problem on long flights, I guess it isn't. I also thought that stopping interstellar dust blowing your ship up was a problem too, which doesn't seem to be addressed. Specks of dust flying at you at 10% the speed of light are bad news.
|
|
#88
08-10-2007, 10:21 AM
|
|||
|
|||
|
Re: First Contact
[ QUOTE ]
[ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] [ QUOTE ] The galaxy is only of order 100,000 light years across. Even at very slow speeds, it would only take tens of millions of years at worst. [/ QUOTE ] This is really an entirely seperate thread, but it's a lot, lot harder than you think. Carrying the fuel, building things that last that long, preserving yourself against interstellar dust at those speeds, having that kind of technology: It's all really, really hard. It's certainly nowhere near anything we're able to do. [/ QUOTE ] If we wanted to, we could build a starship starting tomorrow: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project..._propulsion%29 [/ QUOTE ] Cool. I was under the impression that ablation was a big problem on long flights, I guess it isn't. I also thought that stopping interstellar dust blowing your ship up was a problem too, which doesn't seem to be addressed. Specks of dust flying at you at 10% the speed of light are bad news. [/ QUOTE ] Interstellar dust probably isn't as bad as you might suspect. A one kg object moving at 0.1 c has the kinetic energy of a 100 kilotons of TNT. Bad news, yes, but the nice thing about an Orion-type spacecraft is that there's not as much pressure to limit weight as one might expect. And of course, most space dust will be in the milligram or microgram range, resulting in an impact with an energy of kilograms of TNT.
|
 |
|
|
Linear Mode
