There have been a number of blog posts over the last two days about interstellar travel and the difficulties involved therein. As reported in Wired, Robert Frisbee, group leader in the Advanced Propulsion Technology Group at JPL, conducted a study that designed an interstellar vessel with an antimatter-based propulsion system that could reach α Centauri in a mere 40 years. Brice Cassenti, associate professor in the Department of Engineering and Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute says that it would take between one and 100 times the current energy output of the entire world to send a probe to α Centauri. Many scientists at the recent Joint Propulsion Conference analyzed the proposed designs and largely agreed that traveling to even the nearest stars within the human lifespan is nearly impossible.
Randall Parker at FuturePundit points out that the development of therapies for rejuvenating people will make it possible to live long enough to travel to another solar system, but wonders if anybody would be willing to spend 50 years traveling to reach another star system if all we find there are planets like the ones (other than Earth) in our own solar system.
Paul Gilster, meanwhile, points out that thrust-based systems (ejecting mass backward in order to go forward) are not the only means of propelling a spacecraft, and remains positive in spite of his bet that an interstellar mission will not be launched before December 6, 2025.
Brian Wang agrees that newer technologies may change the basic assumptions Frisbee used and eventually make interstellar travel possible, but points out that advances are needed not just in propulsion but in materials. And people.
There are some very smart people hard at work on solutions to the interstellar travel problem, but I suspect that Paul is right... they won't find a good solution in the next few decades. I do think, though, that we'll solve the problem eventually. I very much hope that I'm around to see it (possibly with the help of the rejuvenation therapies Randall mentioned).
If you want to participate in the ongoing discussions, Paul's Centauri Dreams site serves as the discussion area for the Tau Zero Foundation. Also, The Ultimate Project has forums to discuss their 500-year plan for a massive interstellar colonization ship. I'm sure there are other sources as well, but those are the two that immediately come to mind.
Showing posts with label space colonization. Show all posts
Showing posts with label space colonization. Show all posts
Wednesday, August 20, 2008
Wednesday, July 23, 2008
A Vacation Somplace... Warm
A while back, after some thinking about where in our solar system humanity could colonize, I had a realization. The most Earth-like place in our solar system (other than Earth, of course) is Venus. Brutally hot, super-pressurized, highly-acidic Venus. How could that be? Well, the atmosphere of Venus has a lot of pressure. In fact, to get the same pressure on Earth, you have to go underwater... deep underwater.
All of that got me thinking... we build stuff all the time that floats on the oceans. We even have balloons whose low density and pressure allow them to float through our atmosphere here on Earth. Could we build something that would "float" above Venus in the same way? And how high would it have to float in order to have Earth-like air pressure?
Fortunately, I don't have to do that math on that myself. Nancy Atkinson over at Universe Today reports that Geoffrey Landis of NASA Glenn agrees with me about colonizing Venus, and he's already done some of the calculations. Apparently, about 50km above Venus the air pressure is roughly the same as the surface pressure here on Earth. Even better, at that height, the temperature is also in a much friendlier range between 0°C and 50°C.
That doesn't mean that Venus is without it's problems. The atmosphere is still highly acidic, for one thing, and any floating structures we try to place there would need to be highly resistant to sulfuric acid. Not only that, but with still one atmosphere of pressure, the floating structures we could place there would likely be thoroughly battered by turbulence, constantly bobbing up and down as air pressures and currents bobble the bubble (so to speak).
For those reasons, it seems more likely that the first structures we would emplace at Venus would be more likely to be observatory facilities, unmanned scientific facilities to study the atmosphere in preparation for more advanced structures later.
In any event, and floating structures on Venus are decades (at best) or centuries (more likely) away.
All of that got me thinking... we build stuff all the time that floats on the oceans. We even have balloons whose low density and pressure allow them to float through our atmosphere here on Earth. Could we build something that would "float" above Venus in the same way? And how high would it have to float in order to have Earth-like air pressure?
Fortunately, I don't have to do that math on that myself. Nancy Atkinson over at Universe Today reports that Geoffrey Landis of NASA Glenn agrees with me about colonizing Venus, and he's already done some of the calculations. Apparently, about 50km above Venus the air pressure is roughly the same as the surface pressure here on Earth. Even better, at that height, the temperature is also in a much friendlier range between 0°C and 50°C.
That doesn't mean that Venus is without it's problems. The atmosphere is still highly acidic, for one thing, and any floating structures we try to place there would need to be highly resistant to sulfuric acid. Not only that, but with still one atmosphere of pressure, the floating structures we could place there would likely be thoroughly battered by turbulence, constantly bobbing up and down as air pressures and currents bobble the bubble (so to speak).
For those reasons, it seems more likely that the first structures we would emplace at Venus would be more likely to be observatory facilities, unmanned scientific facilities to study the atmosphere in preparation for more advanced structures later.
In any event, and floating structures on Venus are decades (at best) or centuries (more likely) away.
Tuesday, June 10, 2008
Introducing the Tau Zero Foundation
Thanks to Paul Gilster at Centauri Dreams I stumbled this morning onto the website of the Tau Zero Foundation. The TZF is a 501(c)(3) non-profit organization dedicated to making incremental advancements in science, technology, and education with the eventual goal of interstellar flight and colonization.
A bold goal, to be sure. Tau Zero is led by Mark Millis of the NASA Glenn Research Center (although the foundation itself is not associated with NASA in any way). Millis is best known as the coordinator of the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program for NASA between 1996 and 2002. I followed BPP closely during its existence and was disappointed when NASA was forced to terminate the program. I read all of the papers that came out of the original studies (although I didn't understand everything that was in them). If Tau Zero is going to pursue and encourage the same type of work—and it appears that they will—I will be following their work very closely, as well.
I have long critized space-themed organizations whose only function seems to be to tell other people what to do ("advocacy"). I feel that if you want something done, you should do it, not advocate for someone else to do it. And Tau Zero seems to be focused on doing things. The foundation's plan is to start with educational and informative projects, including one or more books and possibly videos. TZF will also organize researchers to work together and share information. Eventually, once the foundation has the funds, they will sponsor research and possibly open an institute where researchers can collaborate and share ideas in person.
Check back here and, better yet, read Paul's blog, to get updates on this fascinating organization. I wish them the best and, when I can afford it, I'll be supporting them.
A bold goal, to be sure. Tau Zero is led by Mark Millis of the NASA Glenn Research Center (although the foundation itself is not associated with NASA in any way). Millis is best known as the coordinator of the Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Program for NASA between 1996 and 2002. I followed BPP closely during its existence and was disappointed when NASA was forced to terminate the program. I read all of the papers that came out of the original studies (although I didn't understand everything that was in them). If Tau Zero is going to pursue and encourage the same type of work—and it appears that they will—I will be following their work very closely, as well.
I have long critized space-themed organizations whose only function seems to be to tell other people what to do ("advocacy"). I feel that if you want something done, you should do it, not advocate for someone else to do it. And Tau Zero seems to be focused on doing things. The foundation's plan is to start with educational and informative projects, including one or more books and possibly videos. TZF will also organize researchers to work together and share information. Eventually, once the foundation has the funds, they will sponsor research and possibly open an institute where researchers can collaborate and share ideas in person.
Check back here and, better yet, read Paul's blog, to get updates on this fascinating organization. I wish them the best and, when I can afford it, I'll be supporting them.
Wednesday, April 2, 2008
Virgle
Every year on April's Fools Day, there are a number of great jokes that appear on the internet, but Google usually has some of the best. And this year was no exception.
In case you missed it, one of their "announcements" yesterday involved a joint venture with Richard Branson's Virgin Group called Virgle. Virgle's goal? The colonization of Mars!
It's pretty entertaining. My favorite part is the application to be a "Virgle Pioneer."
In case you missed it, one of their "announcements" yesterday involved a joint venture with Richard Branson's Virgin Group called Virgle. Virgle's goal? The colonization of Mars!
It's pretty entertaining. My favorite part is the application to be a "Virgle Pioneer."
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