100-Year Starship Hosts Its Second Symposium This Week - Polidicks

[img]http://msnbcmedia3.msn.com/j/MSNBC/Components/Photo/_new/120910-StarshipPhoto-hmed-0820a_files.grid-6x2.jpg[/img] [quote=MSNBC]Scientists, visionaries, entertainers and the public will gather in Houston this week for the 100-Year Starship Symposium, a meeting to discuss space travel to another star. Interstellar travel is significantly more difficult than spaceflight within our solar system, because the distances involved are vast. For example, at its farthest, Mars is about 20 light-minutes away from Earth, and even Pluto is only about 4 light-hours distant. But the nearest star to the sun, Proxima Centauri, is more than 4 light-years from Earth, meaning a vehicle traveling at light-speed would take 4 years to arrive. Since the fastest spaceships ever built can't even approach light speed, a probe or manned vessel would take many, many years to reach even the nearest stars. That's why the 100-Year Starship initiative, a project started with seed money from the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency (DARPA), has targeted the goal of developing a vehicle that could reach another star in 100 years. [Gallery: Visions of Interstellar Starship Travel] Toward that end, the independent, non-governmental 100-Year Starship organization is hosting its public symposium Thursday through Sunday at the Hyatt Regency in Houston. Speakers include symposium Chairwoman Mae Jemison, the first female African American astronaut; astronomer Jill Tarter, a co-founder of the Search for Extraterrestrial Intelligence (SETI) Institute; Johnnetta B. Cole, director of the Smithsonian Museum of African Art; space journalist Miles O'Brien; and photographer Norman Seeff. "Star Trek" actors LeVar Burton and Nichelle Nichols also will participate. The event is backed by former President Bill Clinton, who will serve as the symposium's honorary chairman. "Taking place the week of the 50th anniversary of President John F. Kennedy's speech delivered at Rice University challenging America to send a man to the moon, the symposium will hold a salute to fifty years of human space flight and NASA's Johnson Space Center," symposium officials wrote in an announcement. The meeting will feature presentations on spacecraft propulsion and technology, as well as discussions on the social, psychological and religious implications of space travel to other stars. "The symposium's technical session will include scientific papers on topics such as time-distance solutions; life sciences in space exploration; destinations and habitats; becoming an interstellar civilization; space technologies enhancing life on Earth; and commercial opportunities from interstellar efforts," conference organizers wrote. This will be the second 100-Year Starship Symposium; the last meeting was held in Orlando in October 2011. This year, DARPA awarded seed money to the Dorothy Jemison Foundation for Excellence to found the 100-Year Starship organization, with the goal of encouraging research that will enable interstellar flight. "100-Year Starship will bring in experts from myriad fields to help achieve its goal — utilizing not only scientists, engineers, doctors, technologists, researchers, sociologists and computer experts, but also architects, writers, artists, entertainers and leaders in government, business, economics, ethics and public policy," officials wrote.[/quote] [url=http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/48971882/ns/technology_and_science-space/#.UE4yho1lRWQ][source][/url] [url=http://100yss.org/][100YSS Website][/url] If it succeeds this will easily be one of the, if not the, most important organisations ever to have existed.

Hundred Year Starship sounds like a really awesome band. It's gonna be really weird when we colonize other stars and we know other humans are out there but all our news of how they're doing is years behind

Where can I sign up?

[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;37617512]Hundred Year Starship sounds like a really awesome band. It's gonna be really weird when we colonize other stars and we know other humans are out there but all our news of how they're doing is years behind[/QUOTE] It reminds me a lot of 40k. All of those imperial star systems with very slow means of contact with one another.

[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;37617512]Hundred Year Starship sounds like a really awesome band. It's gonna be really weird when we colonize other stars and we know other humans are out there but all our news of how they're doing is years behind[/QUOTE] You mean once we reunite all of humanity in a great crusade? :v:

This kills me because I know I wont be here when it arrives, let alone when it sends anything back.

[QUOTE=laharlsblade;37617564]This kills me because I know I wont be here when it arrives, let alone when it sends anything back.[/QUOTE] I think we won't even be here when it will leave.

[QUOTE=laharlsblade;37617564]This kills me because I know I wont be here when it arrives, let alone when it sends anything back.[/QUOTE] you never know, the human lifespan is getting longer and longer these days. if you're very very lucky, you might just get to send it off. [editline]September 10th[/editline] emphasis on the "very very" part though, I like to be optimistic whenever possible but I reckon only about one or two hundred of the people on this forum will still be alive by then

[QUOTE=Cone;37617606]I reckon only about one or two hundred of the people on this forum will still be alive by then[/QUOTE] It'll be just like idiocracy by then I expect. [media]http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=sZHCVyllnck[/media]

[url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive[/url]

[QUOTE=Scar;37617555]You mean once we reunite all of humanity in a great crusade? :v:[/QUOTE] Well no, before that. The Imperium has FTL communications post-Great Crusade. It was cut off from contact during the Age of Strife due to Warp storms.

[QUOTE=JohnnyMo1;37617512]Hundred Year Starship sounds like a really awesome band. It's gonna be really weird when we colonize other stars and we know other humans are out there but all our news of how they're doing is years behind[/QUOTE] Even weirder is the prospect of sending off the first few hundred years of colonists, only to have them arrive at their destinations after ships sent of centuries after them have already arrived and established a thriving colony. You have to wonder what that's going to be like.

Aaaand this is still pointless when it gets to interstellar travel until somebody comes up with some principle/implementation of propulsion we don't know yet. We still don't have any idea how to get [I]anything[/I] moving fast enough to reach any star system outside of ours within anytime near 100 years. If the Voyager 1, the very only thing ever we got out of our solar system, was aimed to Alpha Centuri, the one outside system closest to us, it would take it [B]50,000[/B] years. Now consider most solar systems don't offer anything fit for supporting life of our kind. This research is like if a stone age man, living in Europe, somehow found out about the American land and wanted to go there over the ocean and thought "Well, how would I go about getting there?" "Hmm, lets start a project. I will try to figure out how to build a raft that could carry me and this one picnic basket." I might be first small step in the right direction, but also a completely pointless one, because if you actually think about the scale, we have much bigger problems than "only" keeping a spaceship alive for a hundred years.

This kind of stuff makes me hope for the invention of the soul and the discovery of legit FTL phenomena. The current theories of relativity are only theories anyway; there's probably some loophole that allows FTL travel. Realspace FTL mightn't be legit, but if there were subspace where such things were possible, that'd be ok so long as the Molester of Worlds doesn't extend it's "reach" towards our reality.

woah that ship totally reminded me of the D'kyr from Star Trek [img]http://images1.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20081008012508/memoryalpha/en/images/a/a9/D%27Kyr_type%2C_quarter_view.jpg[/img]

It's easy to forget that there are people that have lived through the advent of flight in unstable contraptions made of wood, fabric and basic machinery to humankind successfully landing remote controlled robots on Mars. There's a good chance we're going to see something else amazing in our lifetimes.

[QUOTE=MADmarine;37618571]It's easy to forget that there are people that have lived through the advent of flight in unstable contraptions made of wood, fabric and basic machinery to humankind successfully landing remote controlled robots on Mars. There's a good chance we're going to see something else amazing in our lifetimes.[/QUOTE] Yes, but they had the technology. The 100-Year Starship Symposium just sounds like a bunch of guys speculating about future technologies and how it would be cool.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;37618260]Aaaand this is still pointless when it gets to interstellar travel until somebody comes up with some principle/implementation of propulsion we don't know yet. We still don't have any idea how to get [I]anything[/I] moving fast enough to reach any star system outside of ours within anytime near 100 years. If the Voyager 1, the very only thing ever we got out of our solar system, was aimed to Alpha Centuri, the one outside system closest to us, it would take it [B]50,000[/B] years. Now consider most solar systems don't offer anything fit for supporting life of our kind. This research is like if a stone age man, living in Europe, somehow found out about the American land and wanted to go there over the ocean and thought "Well, how would I go about getting there?" "Hmm, lets start a project. I will try to figure out how to build a raft that could carry me and this one picnic basket." I might be first small step in the right direction, but also a completely pointless one, because if you actually think about the scale, we have much bigger problems than "only" keeping a spaceship alive for a hundred years.[/QUOTE] Yeah, but with even an 80's level of technology, you could knock that down to 100 years. [url]http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Longshot[/url] [editline]10th September 2012[/editline] [QUOTE=Kljunas;37618698]Yes, but they had the technology. The 100-Year Starship Symposium just sounds like a bunch of guys speculating about future technologies and how it would be cool.[/QUOTE] They mean business. This is being funded by DARPA and NASA. If anyone can do it, it's them.

Real-life space travel is always so much more lame than science fiction space travel. We can't do deep space travel in any reasonable time frame.

[QUOTE=Kljunas;37618698]Yes, but they had the technology. The 100-Year Starship Symposium just sounds like a bunch of guys speculating about future technologies and how it would be cool.[/QUOTE] The only reason they had the technology was a similar enthusiasm to explore options. Without such motivation and dedication, we'd still be stuck with what the Wright brothers (and those before them) left us with. The fact that it's currently a largely speculative matter by no means makes it any less important of an endeavour.

[QUOTE=Awesomecaek;37618260]Aaaand this is still pointless when it gets to interstellar travel until somebody comes up with some principle/implementation of propulsion we don't know yet. We still don't have any idea how to get [I]anything[/I] moving fast enough to reach any star system outside of ours within anytime near 100 years. If the Voyager 1, the very only thing ever we got out of our solar system, was aimed to Alpha Centuri, the one outside system closest to us, it would take it [B]50,000[/B] years. Now consider most solar systems don't offer anything fit for supporting life of our kind. This research is like if a stone age man, living in Europe, somehow found out about the American land and wanted to go there over the ocean and thought "Well, how would I go about getting there?" "Hmm, lets start a project. I will try to figure out how to build a raft that could carry me and this one picnic basket." I might be first small step in the right direction, but also a completely pointless one, because if you actually think about the scale, we have much bigger problems than "only" keeping a spaceship alive for a hundred years.[/QUOTE] I don't think you understand. They don't want to send a raft and a picnic basket. They don't want to send a probe. They want to send a generation ship.

Wouldn't it be ironic if after it got there people discovered some sort of FTL drive?

*insert random metal gear-darpa-space program related joke* i just didn't feel like it.. but i have to say interstellar travel has always been a giant dream of mine. how awesome would it be to be puffing on a fat blunt in some giant comfy chair in an observation room and observe a supernova occur with your own fucking eyes.

The fact that a bunch of sci-fi actors are attending makes it seem like a big joke.

kind of is. the world has given up on space travel as far as i'm concerned

What we really need is some sort of inter-dimensional travel. You open a portal by tearing a hole in our dimension and go through it. You are instantly in another spot in the universe where you want to be. Then again we would probably need to open two portals so we need to get there by other means first...

[QUOTE=Kljunas;37618698]Yes, but they had the technology. The 100-Year Starship Symposium just sounds like a bunch of guys speculating about future technologies and how it would be cool.[/QUOTE] This is exactly what I thought. I scoffed when I read the OP's appraisal of it.

We as humans physically cannot travel large distances within a reasonable time frame. Unless technology is founded that involves some form of warp travel then we will forever be lost in this sea of nothingness. It's a horrible sadness.

I just woke up after having a dream about the 100 year starship because of this thread

[quote]For example, at its farthest, Mars is about 20 light-minutes away from Earth[/quote] This would sound really awesome if there was a way of travelling at the speed of light.