You can ride along with Voyager in "Eyes on the Solar System" (https://eyes.nasa.gov) It's an open world Solar system with NASA missions and imagery.
Where are the Voyagers?
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Re: Where are the Voyagers?
#12As amazing as space technologies are, we are in the stone ages when it comes to spaceflight: > Earth moves around the sun faster than Voyager 2 is traveling from Earth, the distance between Earth and the spacecraft actually decreases at certain times of the year. We don't even have the technology to escape the sun's gravity without needing a gravitational slingshot from other planets, and that still leaves us with a…
Problem is we don't really know where to go next. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin tried to cook up alternate space travel methods for years and still couldn't come up with anything better than the same basic rocket model that put Gagarin into space. Most theorized "warp drives" either require more energy than humanity is capable of producing or necessitate breaking a law of physics or two just to move anything organic or lar…
I recall the story too: if I recall correctly, it was actually a branch of chemistry we had missed, not a math problem per se. The aliens stormed off the ships with muskets and we slaughtered 'em.
Re: Where are the Voyagers?
#13As amazing as space technologies are, we are in the stone ages when it comes to spaceflight: > Earth moves around the sun faster than Voyager 2 is traveling from Earth, the distance between Earth and the spacecraft actually decreases at certain times of the year. We don't even have the technology to escape the sun's gravity without needing a gravitational slingshot from other planets, and that still leaves us with a…
Problem is we don't really know where to go next. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin tried to cook up alternate space travel methods for years and still couldn't come up with anything better than the same basic rocket model that put Gagarin into space. Most theorized "warp drives" either require more energy than humanity is capable of producing or necessitate breaking a law of physics or two just to move anything organic or lar…
There's the EM drive, maybe. Some recent discussion: https://news.ycombinator.com/item?id=12995125
If you can create trust out of electricty (ion drives also come to mind), then if you have nuclear power or fusion, things get interesting again in terms of propulsion.
To reach orbit, there are a bunch of interesting proposals: skyhooks (i.e. space elevator light), launch loops, railguns.
Re: Where are the Voyagers?
#14As amazing as space technologies are, we are in the stone ages when it comes to spaceflight: > Earth moves around the sun faster than Voyager 2 is traveling from Earth, the distance between Earth and the spacecraft actually decreases at certain times of the year. We don't even have the technology to escape the sun's gravity without needing a gravitational slingshot from other planets, and that still leaves us with a…
Problem is we don't really know where to go next. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin tried to cook up alternate space travel methods for years and still couldn't come up with anything better than the same basic rocket model that put Gagarin into space. Most theorized "warp drives" either require more energy than humanity is capable of producing or necessitate breaking a law of physics or two just to move anything organic or lar…
> There's a Sci-fi story - I forget the name - where space travel is actually quite simple if you know the math to make it happen, and when a peaceful alien race visits Earth, the humans - with their thousands of years of armed conflict - kill the aliens and take their spaceships.
I think you might be thinking of Harry Turtledove's "The Road Not Taken". They weren't exactly friendly, but they were quite surprised by Man's ingenuity.
Re: Where are the Voyagers?
#15You can ride along with Voyager in "Eyes on the Solar System" ( https://eyes.nasa.gov ) It's an open world Solar system with NASA missions and imagery.
I love NASA's work but I find it's websites are very messy and without a decent standard framework or layout. I really wish someone go to a GOV.UK job on them and get some decent standardisation going with them.
Re: Where are the Voyagers?
#16As amazing as space technologies are, we are in the stone ages when it comes to spaceflight: > Earth moves around the sun faster than Voyager 2 is traveling from Earth, the distance between Earth and the spacecraft actually decreases at certain times of the year. We don't even have the technology to escape the sun's gravity without needing a gravitational slingshot from other planets, and that still leaves us with a…
We could build something nuclear powered that would be able to do it. Project Orion or Project Daedelus would be able to escape the sun's gravity without needing a gravitational slingshot.
But we have decided for now not to build something like that.
Maybe in the next century at some point a nuclear powered spacecraft could be built in space that could start exploring other star systems.
Re: Where are the Voyagers?
#17Earlier quoted context omitted.
Problem is we don't really know where to go next. Jeff Bezos' Blue Origin tried to cook up alternate space travel methods for years and still couldn't come up with anything better than the same basic rocket model that put Gagarin into space. Most theorized "warp drives" either require more energy than humanity is capable of producing or necessitate breaking a law of physics or two just to move anything organic or lar…
It would be nice, and is certainly the result I hope for (with all the good wishes do), as I'm not sure we will work very well with slow and expensive growth. Reading 'Against a Dark Background' was certainly interesting as it considers a system which essentially has its growth capped by the distance between itself and the rest of the universe.
Something I noticed in that novel is that they still had incredibly advanced technology. The Lazy Guns alone hint at what they lost!
Maybe there's a reason Golter is where it is, and maybe it wasn't always there.
Re: Where are the Voyagers?
#18Um, what about Voyager 6? I'm worried...
You mean V'ger?
Re: Where are the Voyagers?
#19Would be really cool to stick some velocity numbers on there as well, I find it hard to relate to such huge distances. 62 thousand kilometres per hour feels larger because I can kind of comprehend it. Though really cool anyway, I was going to say that Voyager 1 managed short of 30 light seconds a year until I realised the question is one of acceleration and deceleration not velocity. If I wasn't on my way to bed I wo…
> Would be really cool to stick some velocity numbers on there as well
Bottom of this page: http://voyager.jpl.nasa.gov/mission/weekly-reports/index.htm
Re: Where are the Voyagers?
#20Anyone know why in the second video (side plane view of solar system), they show 4 separate items moving out into deep space? I could pick Voyager 1 and 2, but no idea what the other 2 probes are?