31–40 of 410 posts
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Theoretically, you can. At 0.99c 111 light years take about 15 years of ship time to travel.
So you can survive the trip but even if you come back home, it’s not home anymore? Imagine leaving 222 years ago and coming back now ...
But granted, all people I know would be dead and some I could find in the history books maybe..
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Well, I suppose I'm using a bit of hyperbole. Maybe I should say sad. And don't worry, I won't think about it very long.
Why is it sad at all? What would it do for you? It would be about as relevant as being able to communicate in some way with people in the past. Would be interesting and entertaining but a leap to imagine it would yield some kind of better quality of life in the current day.
Some of us refuse to allow this kind of constant cynicism and pessimism that surrounds us to crush our sense of awe and wonder.
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So that's purely for a chemical rocket, right? Is there any combination of tricks that can realistically push the envelope there? For example can we use a space elevator to start higher/faster (or, I don't know, balloons? a catapult or railgun or something?), laser power delivery from the ground, so we don't have to carry all the fuel, and an orbiting way-station for refueling, etc.?
Solar sails might be able to beat it. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_sail
Earlier quoted context omitted.
Theoretically, you can. At 0.99c 111 light years take about 15 years of ship time to travel.
So you can survive the trip but even if you come back home, it’s not home anymore? Imagine leaving 222 years ago and coming back now ...
I should make a kickstarter, but I am already in my jammies.
With a planet this large, visiting it would be a one way trip due to the "The Tyranny of the Rocket Equation" [0]. I'm looking forward to the day we start finding exo-planets that are closer to Earth in size and which could potentially have space-faring races (and which we could leave if we were ever to visit them). [0] - https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/exped...
With a planet this large, visiting it would be a one way trip due to the "The Tyranny of the Rocket Equation" [0]. I'm looking forward to the day we start finding exo-planets that are closer to Earth in size and which could potentially have space-faring races (and which we could leave if we were ever to visit them). [0] - https://www.nasa.gov/mission_pages/station/expeditions/exped...
It's 111 light years away. For all intents and purposes, that's a one way trip right there; irregardless of the rocket equation. Even at relativistic speeds, you can't come home anymore.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So that's purely for a chemical rocket, right? Is there any combination of tricks that can realistically push the envelope there? For example can we use a space elevator to start higher/faster (or, I don't know, balloons? a catapult or railgun or something?), laser power delivery from the ground, so we don't have to carry all the fuel, and an orbiting way-station for refueling, etc.?
Exactly From the reference article: > Travelling from the surface of Earth to Earth orbit is one of the most energy intensive steps of going anywhere else. This first step, about 400 kilometers away from Earth, requires half of the total energy needed to go to the surface of Mars. Which means that if we use something like a balloon/blimp in the first stage, it would be a lot more energy efficient. Anyone knows why it…
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I think what the GP refers to is that there isn’t enough energy in chemical rockets to overcome its gravity, even flight might not be even possible albeit that’s also dependent on the density of the atmosphere to some extent.
Flight would actually be easier on such a planet. The advantage of increased atmospheric density is greater than the downside of the increased gravity.
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So that's purely for a chemical rocket, right? Is there any combination of tricks that can realistically push the envelope there? For example can we use a space elevator to start higher/faster (or, I don't know, balloons? a catapult or railgun or something?), laser power delivery from the ground, so we don't have to carry all the fuel, and an orbiting way-station for refueling, etc.?
Exactly From the reference article: > Travelling from the surface of Earth to Earth orbit is one of the most energy intensive steps of going anywhere else. This first step, about 400 kilometers away from Earth, requires half of the total energy needed to go to the surface of Mars. Which means that if we use something like a balloon/blimp in the first stage, it would be a lot more energy efficient. Anyone knows why it…
Earlier quoted context omitted.
So that's purely for a chemical rocket, right? Is there any combination of tricks that can realistically push the envelope there? For example can we use a space elevator to start higher/faster (or, I don't know, balloons? a catapult or railgun or something?), laser power delivery from the ground, so we don't have to carry all the fuel, and an orbiting way-station for refueling, etc.?
Exactly From the reference article: > Travelling from the surface of Earth to Earth orbit is one of the most energy intensive steps of going anywhere else. This first step, about 400 kilometers away from Earth, requires half of the total energy needed to go to the surface of Mars. Which means that if we use something like a balloon/blimp in the first stage, it would be a lot more energy efficient. Anyone knows why it…
So a balloon/plane/blimp/very high building will only help very marginally.