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Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition

projecthyperion.org

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Re: Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition

#61

Post by Mistletoe »

What's the cost for getting all that to space? Is it still about $4,000/kg?

What's a rough idea about how much Chrysalis would weigh?

2.4M tons it says. ~2.2B kg = $8.8 trillion dollars just for the launch costs alone?

I also thought this was interesting from the 2nd place booklet. Did not know this.

>The chance of a successful pregnancy in deep space without a geomagnetic field is essentially zero.

>During mitosis and meiosis, microtubules depend on a stable magnetic field to orient the mitotic spindle and ensure accurate chromosome segregation — processes critical for embryonic growth. A spacecraft lacking any magnetic field would halt human reproduction, dooming both the mission and the survival of the colony.

Re: Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition

#63

Post by hermitcrab »

Aaargh20318 wrote: post #45
poisonborz wrote: post #13

I doubt the human psyche is capable of such a voyage while being awake the whole time. Even with all the toys and biomes, life will get boring and pointless fast, producing unfulfilled needs, disorder, conflict and revolt. People can't be ants in a colony working for such a narrowly defined goal through a lifetime, especially not multi-generationally. Our existence is based on constant questioning and revolutions. A…

Particles are indistinguishable, this means that the specific particles that make up a physical object (like a human) are not important, you could replace all of them with different particles, ship of Theseus style, and it would be the same object. What makes an object unique then is the specific configuration of the particles that make up that object. This configuration is a form of information. Fortunately, we alre…

it is not clear to me that getting an autonomous 'printer' to function from 4 years away is any easier than creating an interstellar colony ship.

It also remains to be seen if you can 'print' a complex biological object, like a human.

Re: Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition

#64

Post by hermitcrab »

Mistletoe wrote: post #61

What's the cost for getting all that to space? Is it still about $4,000/kg? What's a rough idea about how much Chrysalis would weigh? 2.4M tons it says. ~2.2B kg = $8.8 trillion dollars just for the launch costs alone? I also thought this was interesting from the 2nd place booklet. Did not know this. >The chance of a successful pregnancy in deep space without a geomagnetic field is essentially zero. >During mitosis a…

it would be a lot more practical with a space elevator.

Re: Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition

#65

Post by eamsen »

Aaargh20318 wrote: post #45
poisonborz wrote: post #13

I doubt the human psyche is capable of such a voyage while being awake the whole time. Even with all the toys and biomes, life will get boring and pointless fast, producing unfulfilled needs, disorder, conflict and revolt. People can't be ants in a colony working for such a narrowly defined goal through a lifetime, especially not multi-generationally. Our existence is based on constant questioning and revolutions. A…

Particles are indistinguishable, this means that the specific particles that make up a physical object (like a human) are not important, you could replace all of them with different particles, ship of Theseus style, and it would be the same object. What makes an object unique then is the specific configuration of the particles that make up that object. This configuration is a form of information. Fortunately, we alre…

One distant day they’ll wonder who began them. Do you sign the work?

Re: Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition

#66

Post by eamsen »

hermitcrab wrote: post #63
Aaargh20318 wrote: post #45

Earlier quoted context omitted.

Particles are indistinguishable, this means that the specific particles that make up a physical object (like a human) are not important, you could replace all of them with different particles, ship of Theseus style, and it would be the same object. What makes an object unique then is the specific configuration of the particles that make up that object. This configuration is a form of information. Fortunately, we alre…

it is not clear to me that getting an autonomous 'printer' to function from 4 years away is any easier than creating an interstellar colony ship. It also remains to be seen if you can 'print' a complex biological object, like a human.

You are being printed, every day, cell by cell.

Re: Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition

#67

Post by alanbernstein »

Aaargh20318 wrote: post #45
poisonborz wrote: post #13

I doubt the human psyche is capable of such a voyage while being awake the whole time. Even with all the toys and biomes, life will get boring and pointless fast, producing unfulfilled needs, disorder, conflict and revolt. People can't be ants in a colony working for such a narrowly defined goal through a lifetime, especially not multi-generationally. Our existence is based on constant questioning and revolutions. A…

Particles are indistinguishable, this means that the specific particles that make up a physical object (like a human) are not important, you could replace all of them with different particles, ship of Theseus style, and it would be the same object. What makes an object unique then is the specific configuration of the particles that make up that object. This configuration is a form of information. Fortunately, we alre…

What "current and neat future technologies" do you suggest using for this approach?

Re: Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition

#69

Post by jmyeet »

An interstellar ship is indistinguishable from a generational colony ship because there's no way to realistically travel between stars in timelines that don't span generations unless we extend human lifetimes to centuries or longer. That's possible but doesn't change the trael times. It just means you live to the destination rather than your descedants do.

And let's aside the serious ethical issue of you choosing to board such a ship vs the offspring you have who definitely did not consent, some of whom may not even make it to the destination.

So a generational colony ship looks a lot like an O'Neil Cylinder [1]. It can spin to create 1g gravity and support enough people to make it to the destination.

The issue is energy. An orbital can support itself with solar power when around a star and doesn't need a form of propulsion. An interstellar ship will need an alternative energy source and also have a propulsion system that can sufficiently accelerate and decelerate. The energy budget for the propulsion is so large that the life support energy budget is a rounding error.

The only realistic policy I see is solar sails. This avoids the reaction mass issue. You need to decelerate at the other end. Part of that you get from drag in the interstellar medium. You either carry reaction mass for the rest or you go ahead and use automated systems to build the solar sail equivalent on the other end to decelerate you.

[1]: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/O%27Neill_cylinder

Re: Project Hyperion: Interstellar ship design competition

#70

Post by TuringNYC »

hermitcrab wrote: post #32
vFunct wrote: post #24

I'm here just wondering if people get dizzy in a spinning space station...

A large spacecraft doesn't have to spin very fast to simulate 1g. So probably not.

I was always curious about this. In some of the star wars movies, you dont see any spin, yet they are not floating around (e.g., notice how Orson Krennic has a backdrop of a planet, isnt floating, yet the planet isnt spinning https://allfortheboys.com/ben-mendelsohn/)

I know Interstellar did not ignore the spin, but do movies like Star Wars just ignore the entire concept?

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