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re: Earth-sized planet that can support liquid water found very close
Posted on 8/15/16 at 7:59 pm to PatDyesPants
Posted on 8/15/16 at 7:59 pm to PatDyesPants
quote:
Voyager is the fastest human space craft in existence. It would take Voyager 76,000 years to reach that star.
I'm thinking more along the lines of solar sails, ion thrusters, fusion, and anti-matter reactors. These means of propulsion would be far faster than the Voyager probes.
EDIT: The Voyagers actually aren't the fastest probes we've ever made. They are the Helios probes that were sent to the Sun. The Voyagers go about 17 kilometers per second, while the Helios probes go about 70 kilometers per second. The reason other probes don't go faster is you need it to be caught up in the orbit or slow enough to actually catch images of the planet or object you're trying to observe. The Sun doesn't really have that issue with it having 99% of the mass of the solar system. So the Helios probes travel nearly 5 times faster than the Voyager probes and were built around the same time, so that's clearly not the issue.
This post was edited on 8/15/16 at 8:09 pm
1
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:02 pm to PatDyesPants
quote:
Voyager is the fastest human space craft in existence. It would take Voyager 76,000 years to reach that star.
Voyager was not designed to be an interstellar probe. One of the current leading proposals involves using a swarm of much smaller and lighter "smart" probes. Push them along as far as possible with a laser for long enough and they can reach probably 10% or so of light speed. That makes one-way travel time a little over 40 years.
Obviously there are lots of technical challenges to make it reality, among other things the fact that taking focused pictures from a tiny craft moving that fast will be a bit tricky. But it is at least feasible enough that it is better than pie in the sky dreaming.
This post was edited on 8/15/16 at 8:07 pm
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:11 pm to foshizzle
quote:
Push them along as far as possible with a laser for long enough and they can reach probably 10% or so of light speed. That makes one-way travel time a little over 40 years.
it is an intriguing concept for sure...
But how would they slow back down and observe the planet? NH was going a tiny fraction of the speed being mentioned and it was only in close proximity to Pluto for a few hours because there was no way to slow down.
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:14 pm to foshizzle
quote:
Around the closest star to our Sun, Proxima Centauri. It might be possible to send probes there within a human lifetime.
Proxima is 4.24 light years away. With current technology, that would take us 6214 years to reach. Who are these humans that live to be over 6200 yrs. old?
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:17 pm to OMLandshark
quote:
They are the Helios probes that were sent to the Sun.
Okay, so put on your thinking cap: Why do you think the Helios probes were so fast given your statement above?
Now given than answer, how would traveling away from the sun affect the speed of those probes?
quote:
The reason other probes don't go faster is you need it to be caught up in the orbit or slow enough to actually catch images of the planet or object you're trying to observe.
The Voyager planets used the gravity wells of each planet as a slingshot to increase speed. There was no provision for them to ever slow down.
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:18 pm to foshizzle
quote:
Voyager was not designed to be an interstellar probe. One of the current leading proposals involves using a swarm of much smaller and lighter "smart" probes. Push them along as far as possible with a laser for long enough and they can reach probably 10% or so of light speed. That makes one-way travel time a little over 40 years.
A light sail is the most feasible answer until we get antimatter propulsion (which could go up to 80% of the speed of light). A light sail could feasibly go 20% of the speed of light. That would be the way to do it.
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:20 pm to foshizzle
100% chance it won't support dick. Astronomers have a shite track record predicting the conditions of planets in our own solar system.
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:20 pm to PatDyesPants
quote:
Okay, so put on your thinking cap: Why do you think the Helios probes were so fast given your statement above?
Now given than answer, how would traveling away from the sun affect the speed of those probes?
Well isn't that a reason to send Interstellar probes initially around the Sun for them to slingshot off of it? Granted, light sail and fussion/fission powered probes would go much faster than 70 km/s, more like a minimum of 12,000 km/s, so it's a moot point.
quote:
The Voyager planets used the gravity wells of each planet as a slingshot to increase speed. There was no provision for them to ever slow down.
Yeah, dumb point by me I'll admit.
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:22 pm to Langland
quote:
Astronomers have a shite track record predicting the conditions of planets in our own solar system.
They just found liquid water on Mars. I don't see why they have such a shite record on what is on other bodies in our solar system. Pluto was very surprising, but it was too distant to see it properly.
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:25 pm to OMLandshark
quote:
Well isn't that a reason to send Interstellar probes initially around the Sun for them to slingshot off of it?
I'm not sure a slingshot off the sun is possible. It could be, I don't know. We haven't used it for any probes thus far (including NH which needed to go really fast) so I am thinking there is a limiting factor there.
quote:
Yeah, dumb point by me I'll admit.
My answer sounded a bit harsh. Good to see people taking an interest in this stuff. Space is fascinating!
This post was edited on 8/15/16 at 8:26 pm
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:33 pm to PatDyesPants
quote:
Voyager is the fastest human space craft in existence. It would take Voyager 76,000 years to reach that star.
What if we could do it in 20 years
It's possible (in a few years) to accelerate a nano craft to 20% the speed of light using solar sails and a laser.
The problem is communications (sending instructions would take years) and the amount of equipment you could bring is very limited. Not to mention you couldn't slow it down so you'd only catch a quick glimpse as it sped through the solar system (hours?). That's why they are sending a lot.
It's a bunch of big money guys putting this together so there is a legit chance this gets done
This post was edited on 8/15/16 at 8:55 pm
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:36 pm to Lsuchs
I am intrigued by the idea of nano-spacecraft.
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:53 pm to PatDyesPants
quote:
I am intrigued by the idea of nano-spacecraft.
I'm intrigued by worm holes. We will probably need deflector shields if we travel close to light speed.
This post was edited on 8/15/16 at 8:54 pm
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:56 pm to ByteMe
quote:
I'm intrigued by worm holes
Me too, I don't think this is something we'll get to learn too much about in our lifetime though.
Nano craft are right around the corner. Hang in there about 30 more years and we might have some up close pictures of another solar system
quote:
We will probably need deflector shields if we travel close to light speed.
Might worry about time dilation too if it's humans traveling that fast. Travel a light year at close to the speed of light and you will only be a little over a year older, but alot more time will have passed back on earth. There might not be anyone there when you get back.
You could essentially travel to the future doing a couple years worth of laps around the solar system at close to the speed of light.
This post was edited on 8/15/16 at 9:07 pm
Posted on 8/15/16 at 8:58 pm to PatDyesPants
quote:
I'm not sure a slingshot off the sun is possible.
It would be one hell of a hot ride.
Now if it's possible to convert all that thermal energy to kinetic energy without destroying the probe ... but now I'm dreaming.
Posted on 8/15/16 at 9:06 pm to ByteMe
quote:
I'm intrigued by worm holes. We will probably need deflector shields if we travel close to light speed.
Wormholes are a long, long way off. It would require more energy to create one than we have consumed total as a species. We will at least have to be a Type II Civilization for that to be feasible. We will have traveled to other nearby systems long before we create a womhole, unless of course one pops up at random from some other civilization in the cosmos.
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