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1. Achieving 1G all the time.
Human biochemistry requires 1G for the chemical reactions to work correctly.
2. Constructing an electromagnetic shield
Sun produces a constant barrage of nasty particles, x-rays, etc. which does nasty things to human tissues. For long term space habitation being able to erect an artificial Van Allen Belt is a necessity. She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
Which is, in my mind, a great step forward.
She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
NASA first started sending jellyfish to space aboard the Columbia space shuttle during the early '90s to test how space flight would affect their development. As cool as being an astronaut baby sounds, the jellies didn't develop the same gravity-sensing capabilities as their Earthly relatives. Jellyfish tell up from down through calcium sulfate crystals that ring the bottom edge of their mushroom-like bodies. The crystals are housed in little pockets lined with hair cells, and when the jellyfish moves, the crystals roll around, signaling to the brain which way is up by stimulating those hair cells. The pockets seemed to develop normally in space, but the astro-jellies later had trouble figuring out how to swim around in normal gravity. They had abnormal pulsing and movement when returned to Earth compared to non-astronaut jellyfish. Humans sense gravity and acceleration using otoliths, calcium crystals in the inner ear (similar to those jellyfish have) which move sensitive hair cells to tell the brain which way gravity is pulling. So if the jellyfish had trouble developing their gravity senses in space, it's likely human space babies would get major vertigo too.
Jellyfish tell up from down through calcium sulfate crystals that ring the bottom edge of their mushroom-like bodies. The crystals are housed in little pockets lined with hair cells, and when the jellyfish moves, the crystals roll around, signaling to the brain which way is up by stimulating those hair cells. The pockets seemed to develop normally in space, but the astro-jellies later had trouble figuring out how to swim around in normal gravity. They had abnormal pulsing and movement when returned to Earth compared to non-astronaut jellyfish.
Humans sense gravity and acceleration using otoliths, calcium crystals in the inner ear (similar to those jellyfish have) which move sensitive hair cells to tell the brain which way gravity is pulling. So if the jellyfish had trouble developing their gravity senses in space, it's likely human space babies would get major vertigo too.
Orbiting the earth is fun, but it ain't going anywhere.
What we need is a new technology. Even a theory for one would be a start. Without that, I'd agree with you keep to the Fen Causeway
(Do you think I haven't thought at least a little about what it would take to get out of here? Dreams die hard.) "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
Part of the problem would be that, unless you plan to collect the matter which you plan to eject as you go
In fact, the most efficient acceleration is achieved by ejecting light (i.e., shining it). A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
unless you plan to collect the matter which you plan to eject
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_terrestrial_exoplanet_candidates
On the other hand, Venus is a better prospect for living on, and it's just a bit closer... http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermoplanet#Habitable_class
In fact, this table sorted on ESI pretty much sums up the problem: You have to go 20 ly (or 1000+ ly, depending on details of how you read the numbers) to get to a planet that is marginally more suitable for life than Venus. And Venus is "somewhat challenging."
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Standard_Primary_Habitability
At 23.6 light-years, however, we're looking at multi-generation one-way travel times. One would want to know a bit more about the destination before committing oneself and one's posterity to such a trip.
And there are undoubtedly planets which are more suitable for life than Earth... but the nearest seem to be 500+ light-years away. It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
This thing about using acceleration to get your physiological 1G. Doesn't work, does it? It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
I'm going to have to write a diary on relativistic rockets for the nonphsyicists among us. A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
I will work on my Venus floating city project in the meantime...which is about 99 times more practical than these interstellar spaceship dreams...
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Colonization_of_Venus#Aerostat_habitats_and_floating_cities
But that doesn't solve the 1G problem. If it takes a year to get close to C with 1G acceleration, you need gravity while cruising for (Earth) years at that speed, yes? Or if you get close enough to C, does the relative time without acceleration become trivial? It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
Inertial forces! A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
I'm not sure how thick interstellar medium is when you're doing 90% of c or whatever and physically big.
Seems to me that it makes more sense to just freeze some eggs and sperm and have a robot that mixes them up in a test tube when you get there. If the planet is suitable for life, you get a few thousand Adams and Eves ready to start doing whatever it is that they are going to be doing. Much smaller, easier to shield, no need to worry about maintaining 1G, etc.
Then again aggressive colonisation by relativistic techno-wombs from spaaaaace does have the makings of a cool SF story.
Or, your robot goes out and catches some of the female humanoids that are wandering around (or their ape ancestors, depending on alignment of evolutionary timescales of Earth and this Paradise we're talking about) and sets them up as surrogates. Hopefully you won't screw up and go to the planet after they have pulled the same sort of environmental catastrophe that we are here. (Possible problem with remote sensing of planet's conditions before spaceship launch: what if the natives screw it up in the 200 or so years it takes you to get there?)
Or, in parallel with the development of this spaceship's propulsion system, you have also developed an in-vitro baby growing machine. Which seems imminently more practical that the spaceship itself.
Other possibilities come to mind, none of which approach the suspension of disbelief required by the spaceship itself...
Forward into the past! It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
Hopefully you won't screw up
hollow laugh...
we are not jellyfish, we are..... DEVO 'The history of public debt is full of irony. It rarely follows our ideas of order and justice.' Thomas Piketty
But then I suppose these astronauts will have had their dizziness-sensing mechanisms removed as part of the general bionic preparation that they will want in any case...given that they are expected to build a civilization using nothing but what they bring along with them...
given that they are expected to build a civilization using nothing but what they bring along with them...
Is light-sails vs. magnetohydrodynamic drive the analogue of wind vs. nuclear? A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
Wrong at relativistic speeds relative to the medium. More details in the diar{y|ies}. A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
What medium, ether?
Does the 1G acceleration mean in the velocity (v) or impulse (p)? Doesn't the acceleration change under Lorenz transformations?
That's wrong, too. This is what happens to the incoming directions as you accelerate (see the "boost" in the upper right)
A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
Dread of being fried by cosmic rays as you accelerate the interstellar medium to close to c relative to you. A society committed to the notion that government is always bad will have bad government. And it doesn't have to be that way. — Paul Krugman
But that's just an engineering problem. Perhaps.
Question : is the mass and energy required to keep accelerating at 1G proportional to on-board relative time (as opposed to externally observed time)? That would certainly improve the miles per gallon with increasing speed. It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
So I guess I'll wait for the diary. It is rightly acknowledged that people of faith have no monopoly of virtue - Queen Elizabeth II
But AT is probably right and the answers to these questions are well understood by some. So, no matter how much fun the babbling might be I will try to await Mig's diary. "It is not necessary to have hope in order to persevere."
The density of interstellar gas in the Oort cloud is not expected to differ from that beyond: outside the heliosphere, the influence of the solar system is marginal, compared to supernova shock waves, for example. *Lunatic*, n. One whose delusions are out of fashion.
Light travels as fast as is possible, so its speed is c, I think.
Not at 1G acceleration in the direction of travel.
24 light years takes about six years, ship time, about 30 earth time, so it's a 12/60 round trip, I think.
Numbers from here, but they seem sane.
Astronomen Entdecken Erd Zwilling (auf Deutsch)
A bit too close to it's sun, with a surface temp of 2200 to 2800 grad celcius. But hey, fits the thread. "Life shrinks or expands in proportion to one's courage." - Anaïs Nin
I will still take Venus, though...
:-) She believed in nothing; only her skepticism kept her from being an atheist. -- Jean-Paul Sartre
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