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Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

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Re: Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

#101

Post by ExactoKnight »

I am flabbergasted that as a society we aren't rushing to build a 100 metre wide telescope mirror large enough for us to directly image the spectra of the potentially habitable exoplanets around us.

A telescope this large could tell us whether any of these potentially habitable planets contain oxygen, and thus, biological processes.

Yet thanks to funding cuts in science the biggest telescope we have in the pipeline right now is one with a 30 metre mirror. This telescope won't be big enough, and as a result, our failure to push now for bigger sizes is almost certainly going to push back for decades humanity's ability to answer one of the most important questions we face:

Why are we here, and are we alone.

Re: Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

#102

Post by DDub »

dboreham wrote: post #78
jballanc wrote: post #55

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Even at 50% the speed of light, adding in a fudge factor for acceleration/deceleration, you're still talking about a trip time of 50 yrs. Even if you go all Neon Genesis and send 15 year olds on the journey, they'll be at retirement age by the time they arrive. In other words, you'd almost definitely have to send a generation ship. Which means you'd have to have already figured things like artificial gravity, giving…

We can call it "The B Ark".

But I don't want to die from a disease contracted from a dirty telephone!

Re: Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

#103

Post by ExactoKnight »

kilroy123 wrote: post #100

I really really want project Starshot to become a reality. I think this is our best bet for scoping out these near by star systems. At least within our lifetime. If we could hit 50% speed of light we could do a fly-by mission in ~25 years. Then another 12 years waiting for the data. Honestly, ~37-40 years isn't bad for an interstellar mission. Remember the Voyager program has been going on for that long! So we alread…

The other project that needs to become a reality FAST is the construction of a telescope large enough to measure the spectra of exoplanets. Because once you find a habitable planet with oxygen in its atmosphere, you now have an irrefutable and pressing case to move fast with Breakthrough Starshot.

Sadly it's going to likely a require 100metre telescope mirror or larger, and current science funding only has a 30metre telescope mirror in the works. The 100 metre telescope was cancelled. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwhelmingly_Large_Telescope

The answer is at our fingertips, yet the science community can't get the money to build something that would be a fraction of what F-35 fighter jets cost.

What the !@#$ are we doing as a human race...

Re: Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

#104

Post by sqeaky »

dmix wrote: post #48
sqeaky wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

A nuclear explosion in space wouldn't push against the air and would expand spherically unless somehow contained. Because it doesn't use conventional chemistry the presence or absence of chemicals, like ambient oxygen wouldn't change the output (like it might for a fuel air bomb) but their their properties might change it. Air will provide some resistance and fluoresce at high enough temperatures. I am curious how bi…

So the two biggest issues seem to be a) stopping after accelerating and b) not getting hit by space debris while travelling at those speeds. That said they at least all seem like solvable problems given enough time and resources.

I think a slim profile and large ablative shield are two good ideas. that largely solve both of these issues.

Build something like the TransAmerica Pyramid (without the two white flanges) and put the motor(s) where the foundation would be as to make the building fly like a rocket. Put the motors on at one G and you get artificial gravity, a slim profile and damage equally distributed along the bulk of the ship and most collision will happen at extreme glancing angles.

Stop off near a comet and melt large boulders of ice to the hull. If the outer hull is tiered whipple shields there will be plenty strong and will serve as mount points for the ice. Run simple heating element through it and simplify the installation of ice as ablative armor.

Have all of the storage on the ship be on walls, cabinets, netting, shelves, etc... and bolt all the furniture down. Because when you aren't accelerating you will have no gravity.

When you want to stop, turn the ship around (using reaction wheels or attitude jets) and blow your engines at the target at 1 G to slow down for the same amount of time you burned them to accelerate. This will create artificial gravity again in the same direction you were experiencing it before because you changed the direction of thrust the same amount you changed the orientation of the ship.

You have a nuclear explosion clearing crap from in front of your ship as you slow down, not as safe as the ice, but presumably your engine(s) is tough enough to withstand a nuclear blast.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Transamerica_Pyramid

Re: Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

#105

Post by saganus »

ExactoKnight wrote: post #101

I am flabbergasted that as a society we aren't rushing to build a 100 metre wide telescope mirror large enough for us to directly image the spectra of the potentially habitable exoplanets around us. A telescope this large could tell us whether any of these potentially habitable planets contain oxygen, and thus, biological processes. Yet thanks to funding cuts in science the biggest telescope we have in the pipeline r…

Isn't building a 100m telescope incredibly hard? does that kind of technology exist already? (I genuinely don't know).

Also, what would the effect of the atmosphere be in such a large telescope? would a bigger mirror increase or decrease the effects of Earth's atmosphere for these kind of observations?

Re: Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

#106

Post by moonbug22 »

ExactoKnight wrote: post #103
kilroy123 wrote: post #100

I really really want project Starshot to become a reality. I think this is our best bet for scoping out these near by star systems. At least within our lifetime. If we could hit 50% speed of light we could do a fly-by mission in ~25 years. Then another 12 years waiting for the data. Honestly, ~37-40 years isn't bad for an interstellar mission. Remember the Voyager program has been going on for that long! So we alread…

The other project that needs to become a reality FAST is the construction of a telescope large enough to measure the spectra of exoplanets. Because once you find a habitable planet with oxygen in its atmosphere, you now have an irrefutable and pressing case to move fast with Breakthrough Starshot. Sadly it's going to likely a require 100metre telescope mirror or larger, and current science funding only has a 30metre…

You know about the SKA, right?

Re: Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

#107

Post by afterburner »

ExactoKnight wrote: post #101

I am flabbergasted that as a society we aren't rushing to build a 100 metre wide telescope mirror large enough for us to directly image the spectra of the potentially habitable exoplanets around us. A telescope this large could tell us whether any of these potentially habitable planets contain oxygen, and thus, biological processes. Yet thanks to funding cuts in science the biggest telescope we have in the pipeline r…

They did plan one (maybe you were thinking of it), but passed in favour of a 39m one: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Overwhelmingly_Large_Telescope

We certainly can't visit these places for quite some time though.

Re: Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

#108

Post by yohann305 »

kilroy123 wrote: post #100

I really really want project Starshot to become a reality. I think this is our best bet for scoping out these near by star systems. At least within our lifetime. If we could hit 50% speed of light we could do a fly-by mission in ~25 years. Then another 12 years waiting for the data. Honestly, ~37-40 years isn't bad for an interstellar mission. Remember the Voyager program has been going on for that long! So we alread…

I hope Elon Musk reads your inquiry

Re: Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

#109

Post by jerf »

pgwhalen wrote: post #85
vanattab wrote: post #82

Earlier quoted context omitted.

>It's shocking how little appetite there is for redirecting 50% of the budget which is currently allocated to the military to space exploration. 50% for the military? All the figures I can find say it's 16% of federal spending. Edit: As others have pointed out. OP may have been suggesting we redirect 50% of the military budget to space not that the military budget is 50% of the national.

I believe he's just saying 50% of what is currently allocated for the military, so by your math, 8% of the federal budget.

And the answer is if you accomplished a miracle and cut military spending in half and freed up 8% of the federal budget, there would be a rioting mob charging towards the money... no... that doesn't really capture how much we're talking here... there would be a rioting mob charging the suddenly-available huge pile of MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY MONEY and there's very little reason to believe space exploration would be any of the winners.

Re: Four Earth-sized planets detected orbiting the nearest sun-like star

#110

Post by WednesdayThrow1 »

ExactoKnight wrote: post #101

I am flabbergasted that as a society we aren't rushing to build a 100 metre wide telescope mirror large enough for us to directly image the spectra of the potentially habitable exoplanets around us. A telescope this large could tell us whether any of these potentially habitable planets contain oxygen, and thus, biological processes. Yet thanks to funding cuts in science the biggest telescope we have in the pipeline r…

Maybe tech giants like Apple and Google should start using some capital to fund awesome ideas like this.
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