re: When will it be possible for interstellar travel?

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Years ago the Sun was being pulled across the sky by a chariot. Why do we think it current understanding is any more correct?

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Because of data. Data may indeed prove one day that our current understanding is not correct, but that doesn't mean it will look any better.

There's nothing out there to see. That's why God made us on earth

The chances that an exoplanet has sustained life-sustaining status (without a major extinction event) long enough to allow for the evolution of an intelligent species, and that species reaching our current state of technology without destroying itself IN THE SAME time frame that we have reached where we are today are astronomical.

Then factor in the chance that one is able to locate the other across this vast distance (even to our closest system)

Then factor in the chance that one of us attains interstellar technology before the other reaches the singularity...

Not too good that we ever see little green men.

It's possible now. I'm not sure if you're away of this, but we mastered interstellar flight in the late 70s early 80s. It was done under our noses as a top secret world space program.

Getting there is not that hard. Relatively that is. It wont be too long until we can build a large ship, pack it with food and people, an shoot it off toward another star with the knowledge that itll get there eventually.


The problem comes when you take into account Relativity. Without warp, we'd have to go REALLY fast to get there which would require slow but steady acceleration. We would get to going pretty fast, which is the problem. At very high speeds, higher percentages of (c) times slows down for the people on board. So what may be 1 year of travel for our space men may be 100 on earth.

shite, we could shoot a rocket out, 20 years later develop warp, and then warp to the planet and beat the original crew by decades.

Honestly, not for a long time unless we make some new discoveries/changes to how we think physics works. Who knows what we will figure out in 50 years. Hell, our understanding at the quantum level is being rewritten/revised every decade or so. Personally, I think the answer will come down to advancements in electromagnetism. If we can develop a superconductor that would be viable for space travel we could do a lot with that. Literally powers everything we need for a long space voyage: Ion Drives, life support, deflection of debris, etc. We are slowly getting there, though.

And just read SundayFunday's post about relativity and this was another point I wanted to make. It really depends on our situation on earth. If it was a last ditch effort to make sure we kept from going extinct, relativity would matter little to the people of earth. The travelers themselves would only experience a few years of travel at near the speed of light. And that would be with them traveling many light years to a habitable planet(hopefully in our neighborhood). It would ensure our survival. But if we wanted to know that our travelers made it, that's really out of the question unless we figure out how to warp or someone throws us a wormhole(joking).

Learned that at Southern?

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What in the frick is up with all these space threads being started lately. I don't care if there's aliens out there, I don't care if there's another habitable planet out there, I don't care what type of planet/civilization (whether it's type-0 or type-123333356) we are part of. I've got enough shite to keep my mind occupied.

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We used to look up at the sky and wonder about our place in the stars, now we look down at the earth and worry about our place in the dirt.

You, sir, suck arse.

ESPN has said that the year 2115 LSU vs. Bama game will be played on Mars.

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When will it be possible for interstellar travel?

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When the Cubs win the World Series...