I think most stars visible to the naked eye are unlikely to provide a welcoming environment for human colonization. We probably would want to concentrate on solar systems with less conspicuous suns.
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NASA's Warp Drive - update
- Thread starter larryman
- Start date
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We'll surround our planets by solar fluctuation dampeners and radiation shields also known as Venusian atmosphere.
UPDATE: Still no warp drive.
You've made the right choice. I purchased one and installed it in my car a few days ago. I drove around the neighbourhood for a little while, and I only found rock and ice deserts, crappy weather, no air conditioning, totally boring landmarks, not a single soul for days and days, no accommodation, conditions leading to terrible nausea and I was forced to follow totally inhumane safety rules.
Right now I am suing the manufacturer for false advertisement.
There are stars in the night sky that are in distant galaxies. I doubt that in ten thousand years that we will have traveled to those galaxies.
I think that if we do move out, from this solar system, that we will do so like the ancient Polynesians who migrated from one island to the other. I do believe that we will encounter limits to our exploration and colonization. Some we can imagine now, others we can't even imagine.
I think that if we do move out, from this solar system, that we will do so like the ancient Polynesians who migrated from one island to the other. I do believe that we will encounter limits to our exploration and colonization. Some we can imagine now, others we can't even imagine.
Only if we will be planet bound in the future.
If we take the far better option of building O'Neill colonies/Orbitals, almost any star with an asteroid belt is prime real estate.
You can't see those stars with the naked eye, throwback.
Beyond the obvious speed and energy constrains (including the related sociological/economical arguments), what other limits do you see?
FTFY.
Same difference: you can't see the component stars of those galaxies with the naked eye - not even close.
Looking into the past, when answering what challenges will face the future starfarers, there are the issues of food storage and preparation, psychological and physical fitness of the crew and passengers, threats from radiation, threats from space debris, and the dangers posed by alien lifeforms. These lifeforms could be something as small as a bacteria, or akin to us - a thinking and reasoning species. These are the known threats. It seems that when humans are exploring, they invariably encounter new threats they hadn't considered before.
There is something else to consider. According to the current belief about our galaxy, we live in a system that is located in the right galactic zone, a zone of habitability. This zone may defined where we could go feasibly in the galaxy, for systems that lay outside this zone might be unusable or hostile.
There is something else to consider. According to the current belief about our galaxy, we live in a system that is located in the right galactic zone, a zone of habitability. This zone may defined where we could go feasibly in the galaxy, for systems that lay outside this zone might be unusable or hostile.
Especially when our daring astronauts will be told "You are too immature. Go back to your planet and grow up before you leave your cradle again..."
That would be quite a frustrating moment.
Bob
Most of these challenges are either non-problems for a species that can command to the required degree the energies necessary for relativistic travel or highly improbable.
Food and fitness?
We can solve those today with hydroponics (or aeroponics), centrifugal gravity and recreational activities (not that those are really needed: read about the sailing conditions in the age of discovery, etc - humans are psychologically far more resilient than you give them credit).
Radiation?
Again - a non-problem. Today we can solve it (reducing the radiation to levels humans can withstand indefinitely with relatively little shielding).
Space debris?
In interstellar space? You stand a far (and I mean FAR) better chance of winning the lottery than of being hit by space debris.
Alien lifeforms?
Real life? In our vicinity - as in, a few tens of lightyears - the chances of there being aliens are negligible; or they are compulsive hiders.
Either case - the chances of encountering aliens are negligible. We are not living in the trekverse, with aliens around every corner.
Not really. See the age of discovery, the exploration of the americas, etc, etc.
"According to the current belief about our galaxy"?
That would be - according to an all but discredited theory. Near the center of the galaxy, the stars are closer together, yes. But that still means they are separated by distances so great, we can only understand them as abstractions.
Far enough for extinction events from one star to have practically 0 chances of affecting another star.
Indeed, there is probably no well-defined galactic habitable zone:
http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0612316v1.pdf
However, continued survival on a planetary body within a hundred light years of the central black hole might be problematic.
http://arxiv.org/pdf/astro-ph/0612316v1.pdf
However, continued survival on a planetary body within a hundred light years of the central black hole might be problematic.