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Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)



 
 
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  #1  
Old December 31st 16, 10:48 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
RichA[_6_]
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Default Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)

Earth-like? I'd believe it when they get there. Here's the travel time:

-Current rocket technology (if a large enough one could be built): 120,000mph.
25,000 years to get there.

-Project Orion 10,000 ton class ship: 80% speed of light peak speed.
14 years.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016...d-orig-nws.cnn

  #2  
Old December 31st 16, 11:20 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
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Default Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)

On Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 4:48:33 AM UTC-5, RichA wrote:
Earth-like? I'd believe it when they get there.


Maybe it's Mercury-like. Mercury is sort of Earth-like. Earth is sort of Mercury-like. Maybe it's like Venus-like.



  #3  
Old December 31st 16, 02:09 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Chris.B[_3_]
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Default Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)

On Saturday, 31 December 2016 10:48:33 UTC+1, RichA wrote:
Earth-like? I'd believe it when they get there. Here's the travel time:

-Current rocket technology (if a large enough one could be built): 120,000mph.
25,000 years to get there.

-Project Orion 10,000 ton class ship: 80% speed of light peak speed.
14 years.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016...d-orig-nws.cnn


Since the distance is effectively unmanageable one needs to "fix" the time factor.
It can only be a matter of time before time becomes malleable to our devices.
Whether the rocket will "have time" to avoid high velocity dust particles is another matter.
Perhaps it won't matter since the journey would never involve covering the entire distance at relativistic velocities.

One can only hope that an advanced civilization takes pity on us and gives us a helping hand with interstellar travel.
The question remains which factors are denying us this information already?
Imagine an advanced civilization looking at us now:
What could possibly convince you of our worthiness to be allowed off our small, blue blob?
Take me to your leader?
Putin? Trump? Assad? Kim? Xi?
I wouldn't.
  #4  
Old December 31st 16, 02:17 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
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Default Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)

On Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 8:09:47 AM UTC-5, Chris.B wrote:
On Saturday, 31 December 2016 10:48:33 UTC+1, RichA wrote:
Earth-like? I'd believe it when they get there. Here's the travel time:

-Current rocket technology (if a large enough one could be built): 120,000mph.
25,000 years to get there.

-Project Orion 10,000 ton class ship: 80% speed of light peak speed.
14 years.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016...d-orig-nws.cnn


Since the distance is effectively unmanageable one needs to "fix" the time factor.
It can only be a matter of time before time becomes malleable to our devices.
Whether the rocket will "have time" to avoid high velocity dust particles is another matter.
Perhaps it won't matter since the journey would never involve covering the entire distance at relativistic velocities.

One can only hope that an advanced civilization takes pity on us and gives us a helping hand with interstellar travel.
The question remains which factors are denying us this information already?
Imagine an advanced civilization looking at us now:
What could possibly convince you of our worthiness to be allowed off our small, blue blob?
Take me to your leader?
Putin? Trump? Assad? Kim? Xi?



0bama? Illary?

  #5  
Old December 31st 16, 08:00 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Gary Harnagel
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Default Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)

On Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 6:09:47 AM UTC-7, Chris.B wrote:

On Saturday, 31 December 2016 10:48:33 UTC+1, RichA wrote:

Earth-like? I'd believe it when they get there. Here's the travel time:

-Current rocket technology (if a large enough one could be built):
120,000mph. 25,000 years to get there.

-Project Orion 10,000 ton class ship: 80% speed of light peak speed.
14 years.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016...d-orig-nws.cnn


Since the distance is effectively unmanageable one needs to "fix" the time
factor. It can only be a matter of time before time becomes malleable to
our devices.


Take a black hole with us and stay really, really close to it?

Develop Alcubierre warp drive?

Create a wormhole?

Develop Forward gravit0-magnetic slingshot technology (slowing down at the
other end may be a problem)

Find a brane where Alpha Centauri is only a few billion miles away?

Whether the rocket will "have time" to avoid high velocity dust particles
is another matter.


Or asteroid-size bodies in the Oort cloud!

Perhaps it won't matter since the journey would never involve covering
the entire distance at relativistic velocities.

One can only hope that an advanced civilization takes pity on us and gives
us a helping hand with interstellar travel.


The Vulcans require that we develop warp drive on our own. Perhaps the
Overlords? But that would happen only if our civilization were ending.

The question remains which factors are denying us this information already?
Imagine an advanced civilization looking at us now:
What could possibly convince you of our worthiness to be allowed off our
small, blue blob?


Cosmic censorship.

Take me to your leader?
Putin? Trump? Assad? Kim? Xi?
I wouldn't.


I'm afraid we'll just have to muddle through ....
  #6  
Old December 31st 16, 10:35 PM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Mike Collins[_4_]
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Default Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)

RichA wrote:
Earth-like? I'd believe it when they get there. Here's the travel time:

-Current rocket technology (if a large enough one could be built): 120,000mph.
25,000 years to get there.

-Project Orion 10,000 ton class ship: 80% speed of light peak speed.
14 years.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016...d-orig-nws.cnn



Project Orion was originally designed for solar system travel. It could get
to Proxima but no chance of 0.8c. Even 0.2c would probably be impossible
with fission bombs. .8C would need to cope with relativistic impacts
producing mechanical and much more importantly radiation damage needing
many metres of shielding and/or magnetic shielding which would be fatal to
human life. these problems may eventually be overcome but probably not
without antimatter propulsion. Even them a lot of radiation contamination
is likely.


  #7  
Old January 1st 17, 12:05 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Chris L Peterson
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Default Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)

On Sat, 31 Dec 2016 01:48:30 -0800 (PST), RichA
wrote:

Earth-like? I'd believe it when they get there. Here's the travel time:

-Current rocket technology (if a large enough one could be built): 120,000mph.
25,000 years to get there.

-Project Orion 10,000 ton class ship: 80% speed of light peak speed.
14 years.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016...d-orig-nws.cnn


We lack fundamental technology to even travel at 0.1 C. Not because of
propulsion technology, but because the spacecraft would be destroyed
by collisions with interstellar dust particles.
  #8  
Old January 1st 17, 12:16 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
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Posts: 9,472
Default Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)

On Saturday, December 31, 2016 at 4:48:33 AM UTC-5, RichA wrote:
Earth-like? I'd believe it when they get there. Here's the travel time:

-Current rocket technology (if a large enough one could be built): 120,000mph.
25,000 years to get there.

-Project Orion 10,000 ton class ship: 80% speed of light peak speed.
14 years.

http://www.cnn.com/videos/world/2016...d-orig-nws.cnn


http://www.daviddarling.info/encyclo.../Daedalus.html

  #9  
Old February 20th 17, 05:00 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
BogeyOne
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Default Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)

RichA wrote:
Earth-like? I'd believe it when they get there. Here's the travel time:

-Current rocket technology (if a large enough one could be built): 120,000mph.
25,000 years to get there.




My thinking is that science is not capable of everything and visiting
even the nearest stars is a good example. I do not doubt that millions
upon millions of other developed civilizations exist in this universe,
but they could not escape being bound by the same laws of physics and
the restraints of time that we are. So it is best to accept that all
must just sit around and ponder the "if we only could" scenario.

Of course, I could be wrong.



  #10  
Old February 20th 17, 06:50 AM posted to sci.astro.amateur
Chris L Peterson
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Default Planet near Proxima Centauri (Travel time)

On Sun, 19 Feb 2017 20:00:02 -0800, BogeyOne
wrote:

My thinking is that science is not capable of everything and visiting
even the nearest stars is a good example.


It is well within our scientific capacity, and the engineering
problems could be solved in short order, to make practical robotic
trips to a few nearby stars with mission times under a century (which
is still problematic given our political and social immaturity).

I do not doubt that millions
upon millions of other developed civilizations exist in this universe...


Maybe. But it's possible that most or all are like us, unlikely to
survive as a technological species long enough to venture far from
their birthplace before going extinct.
 




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