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The Living Room General Can we leave the solar system?

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Dixon Berry, I'm a Possibilian! We simply don't know enough...

Can we leave the solar system?

Latest Post: January 6, 2012 at 9:56 PM

16 followers

Can we leave the solar system in any meaningful way? I mean, like, as in a Neil Young sense of flying mother nature's "silver seed" to a new home? The nearest star is 4.37 away from the Sun. So it would take us 275,000 years to get there at 100,000 miles per hour. Warp? Really? No. We're not going anywhere people. Can we recognize finally that Star Trek and Gene Roddenberry were all about corporate profit? We've been duped. The Sun is the only God you will ever know. Respect the planet.

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Graham A Nelson

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Graham A Nelson

January 5, 2012 at 3:03 PM

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Your assumption seems based on acknowledgement that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. However, the speed of light is not constant and can be exceeded by some particles. Neutrinos may be one of them. However, travelling so fast does not exclude us from travelling huge distances by "extending" our life spans through travelling very very fast, if not faster than the speed of light.

If I am understanding this correctly, Relativity as describedby Philip Gibbs in 1997 (University of California) seems to have it that large distance space travel for humans is not out of the question. A "relativistic rocket", causes "time dilation" such that "space travellers (could) cover very large distances in their lifetimes. If they accelerate at a constant acceleration equal to the acceleration due to gravity on Earth, they would not only have a perfect artificial gravity on their ship, but would also be able to cross the galaxy in only about 12 years of their own "proper time": that is, they would age 12 years during the journey." In other words (I think!) while the travellers may not move more than the speed of light, they would - in effect - age more slowly than they would on Earth.

Also, other theories suggest travelling vast distances through space without moving faster than light may be possible. Worm Holes, for example, are not an invention of science fiction but of physics; whether or not they could be used for space travel, if they could be created or exist naturally, is a matter some physicists actually debate.

While we may have been duped by "warp drives", while travelling at the speed of light, or above it probably impossible, travelling huge distances across space is .... if we can invent the technology before we become extinct!

So, I come to a similar conclusion as you: We must respect our planet at least for the longevity of our own species ... in case we can't get off it in Time!

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Kevin Blank

January 6, 2012 at 9:56 PM

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If, for a moment, I set aside the argument of time restrictions, I am still left with wondering why you say "respect the planet."; as if there was only one in our solar system. Sure, we think others probably aren't habitable right now but Earth wasn't always habitable for human beings. That didn't stop it from being the "beautiful planet" that it is now. I certainly don't hate Mars just because it happens to not be in its peak right now.

To argue on time restrictions, humans really don't have any. Hypothetically, if we were to discover some kind of source of food that could live on a space craft, we could go anywhere in the universe. Fuel is easy because we can simply use reflective materials which harness the sun's light energy to receive an indefinite source of fuel. Then, all we need is a decent amount of human beings such that the gene pool doesn't experience issues and we will have a society that is in a space craft able to habit a different planet in virtually anywhere in the universe.

Beyond that, I honestly find the sun dainty. Compared to other stars, it really isn't much. In fact, if I remember right, it is the among the most common star types that is in the universe and has virtually no special importance aside from having us near it. Calling that a God, to me, defies the very nature of God being special.