DailyDirt: Interstellar Travel -- 'To Boldly Go Where No One Has Gone Before'

from the urls-we-dig-up dept

Tue, Sep 18th 2012 5:00pm — Joyce Hung

If only interstellar travel were as easy as it is depicted in movies and TV shows like Star Trek... While we won't be traveling beyond our solar system anytime soon, there are already plenty of efforts underway to develop the technologies needed to make interstellar travel a reality. Here are a few examples.

DARPA is funding the "100 Year Starship Initiative" which aims to make long-distance space travel possible within the next century. The initiative will focus on identifying and driving advancements in the technologies needed for interstellar flight, as well as using them to improve the quality of life on Earth. [url]
According to an estimate of how much energy would be needed to make interstellar travel possible, it will be at least another 200 years before humans will have enough to trek to the stars. For example, a mission to send 500 people on a one-way trip into space would require 10¹⁸ Joules of energy for rocket propulsion. In comparison, a shuttle launch requires 10¹³ Joules of energy. [url]
NASA's Glenn Research Center has compiled a list of some ideas for interstellar travel that are based on scientific knowledge that exists today. To make interstellar travel practical, we'll need to be able to control gravitational/inertial forces, travel faster than light, find ways to harness the energy in the vacuum of space, etc. [url]
Icarus Interstellar Inc. is working on the concept of using powerful lasers to generate antimatter from the vacuum of space. The large amount of energy produced through matter-antimatter annihilation could then be used for interstellar propulsion. [url]

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Filed Under: 100yss, darpa, exploration, interstellar travel, propulsion, space, star trek, starships
Companies: icarus interstellar, nasa

15 Comments

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Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2012 @ 5:19pm

to go boldly where no MAN has gone before....
Having 100-year plans sounds insanely impossible given the failure of most 5-year plans.......
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AG Wright (profile), 18 Sep 2012 @ 5:33pm

"where no one has gone before"
Only if there are no aliens there. If there are aliens there then they have already been there.
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2012 @ 5:39pm

Re: "where no one has gone before"
If they are aliens then they are not human.
If they are not human then they can not be counted as human.
Thus the phrase "where no one" referring to humans is correct.

Of course all logic fails if you are political correct and believe that robots are human.
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KSK, 18 Sep 2012 @ 5:42pm

Attention! This is the Kantner-Slick Kollective. We will hijack the starship and strike a blow against the empire. The day is on its way. The day is ours!
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2012 @ 5:44pm

Re: "where no one has gone before"
what if 2 people go ?

and everyone knows all you need is some dilithium crystals.

and lots of hydrogen dioxide,, gotta have that !!
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2012 @ 6:24pm

I find it interesting that your post doesn't include the latest piece of news that indicates it's actually possible to have interstellar travel much soon than you imply.

http://news.discovery.com/space/warp-drive-possible-nasa-tests-100yss-120917.html
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2012 @ 6:27pm

I actually meant this article which states we could achieve interstellar travel with only the power used by the Voyager 1 spacecraft.

http://www.space.com/17628-warp-drive-possible-interstellar-spaceflight.html
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Anonymous Coward, 18 Sep 2012 @ 6:44pm

Re:
you are severely confused about the "power of the voyager probe". it means the mass of the probe converted to pure energy... its still an astronomical amount of energy to attain.
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Zos (profile), 19 Sep 2012 @ 1:18am

Re: Re:
i've been waiting for mention of that one to pop up the last couple days too. astronomical sure, but if they get even a proof of concept it's a heck of a lot better than prospects looked before.
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Violated (profile), 19 Sep 2012 @ 6:28am

500 is the idiot plan
You don't need to send 500 people to another star system.

What you need is human eggs and sperms which can be frozen for as long as you what. No oxygen use, no food or water needed, and only little power use.

Then about 12 to 17 years away from exoplanet landing it is best to create 20 females (2 are spare). Oxygen, food, water and a robotic education then needed.

These 20 females once landed create a farm and crops. Most important is that each female is made pregnant as many times as possible with boys and girls. Some of the women work on the farm and others do young child care.

As the children get to schooling age they get a robotic education system to educate them into needed jobs. Extra buildings, mining, electronics, factory work and more.

In about 20 years on the planet you should have around 250 citizens in a small town. Then as they are encouraged into marriage and banging away hard it is time for the robotic education system to work out what other job types are needed such as Nuclear Power engineers for power plants.

Then as they slowly spread over the planet's surface your job is done and they can now look after themselves. So all it took was some genetic donations from some healthy people back on Earth.

Obviously there would be a lot of technology needed and it would not be an easy life for those first 20 women. Still if they fail then your system can just make another 20.
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Violated (profile), 19 Sep 2012 @ 6:37am

Re:
Scientists tend to say a lot of things.

When they get their exotic matter and massive power coming out of a small box then we will give them the Noble prize for 50 years in a row... but not until then.
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Violated (profile), 19 Sep 2012 @ 6:55am

Re: to go boldly where no MAN has gone before....
It is not a plan as such but a group of people who want the same goal and donations from people who believe in the same goal and want to help. This is largely removed from the whim of politics who tend to be good at killing plans and wasting money.

So it is just intelligent people who have an idea what technology we need and then to use the donations to fund advances in those directions. Then using this new technology they can make profit and obtain further funds to meet their goals.

This point of all this is that getting to another star system is possible even if extremely hard. It is all physics and time/distance for the power needed along with systems to last the trip. If we don't believe it is possible, if we don't aim to achieve this goal, then we simply will never ever get there.

So all about going and doing it. Human civilization won't last forever and who knows what the future holds.
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Josh (profile), 19 Sep 2012 @ 10:08am

Is it just me or does Icarus Interstellar sound a lot like Project Arcturus? I'd prefer they run those tests a few lightyears away.
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John Fenderson (profile), 19 Sep 2012 @ 11:04am

Re: Re:
Science writers tend to say a lot of things.

Scientists tend to be very careful about what they say, but the journalists reporting on them tend to paraphrase and select quotes in ways that make it sound like scientists have said something more radical or surprising than what they actually said.
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Anonymous Coward, 19 Sep 2012 @ 3:16pm

No Nicki Minaj references?
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