[QUOTE=Ekalektik_1;37909033]If we ever find Pandora I want it to be the Pandora with deserts, [B]vaults[/B], and psychos.[/QUOTE]
Ehh, i'll pass.
It would be interesting to see how this will pan out. but 40 years is also a long time. If they do build and launch one itll certainly take years and sadly the great mind today might not live to see it.
[QUOTE=lil timmy;37907261]I know it's a pretty cliche'd thing to say, but never say never. It's definitely on the far side of unlikely that I'll ever see man set foot on a planet in an alien solar system, but who knows what could happen. Hell, in twenty or whatever years circumstances might lead to another space race - who knows what lies in the future?[/QUOTE]
Exactly. Even if you think we'll never see or do something incredible, doesn't mean we can't give it our damndest to prove otherwise. It's about that passion, that drive to prove that the impossible, is in itself, impossible. I'm sure people living a hundred years ago looked up to the moon and thought that putting a man on the moon was laughably absurd, and that it simply couldn't be done. And yet here we are.
I thought Proxima Centauri was the closest star
[QUOTE=Civil;37907170]Artists representation of Alpha Centauri's might have planets:
[img]http://images2.wikia.nocookie.net/__cb20100822154549/halo/images/5/5e/Planet_Reach.png[/img][/QUOTE]
Reach orbited Epsilon Eridani
[QUOTE=Virtanen;37909833]I thought Proxima Centauri was the closest star[/QUOTE]
Proxima Centauri is Alpha Centauri C.
[QUOTE=Scrappa;37908773]NASA are actually working on the technology right now.[/QUOTE]
Where'd you get this from? The Alcubierre Drive is a mathematical novelty and little more, there's no viable line of research for its development.
As cool as it would be for sci-fi to become reality, the fact is that any kind of 'warp drive' is so far beyond the realm of scientific plausibility that it can't be seriously considered as a solution to interstellar travel. Developing conventional nuclear drives with the goal of exploring our own solar system is a much more reachable and arguably more useful goal.
[QUOTE=catbarf;37911649]Where'd you get this from? The Alcubierre Drive is a mathematical novelty and little more, there's no viable line of research for its development.
As cool as it would be for sci-fi to become reality, the fact is that any kind of 'warp drive' is so far beyond the realm of scientific plausibility that it can't be seriously considered as a solution to interstellar travel. Developing conventional nuclear drives with the goal of exploring our own solar system is a much more reachable and arguably more useful goal.[/QUOTE]
Well there's this recent point brought up by a NASA Physicist that want's to now do physical tests in a lab.
[url]http://techland.time.com/2012/09/19/nasa-actually-working-on-faster-than-light-warp-drive/[/url]
It's not the whole of NASA "working" on FTL travel, but it's someone FROM NASA considering it to be a plausible achievement.
Then there's this older page directly from NASA, but I'm not sure of it's status today:
[url]http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/bpp/index.html[/url]
[quote][i]Objectively, the desired breakthroughs might turn out to be impossible, but progress is not made by conceding defeat.[/i] Reciprocally, breakthroughs have a habit of taking pessimists by surprise, but can equally remain elusive. By proceeding in small, incremental steps that focus on the immediate questions and by emphasizing the reliability of the findings rather than their long-range implications, relevant and dependable knowledge will result. Regardless of whether the breakthroughs are found, this inquiry provides an additional perspective with which to seek answers to the lingering unknowns of our universe.[/quote]
Stay away from the fungus!
The worms... the wormsss..........
[QUOTE=Niklas;37907236]Sad to think we can't go there in our lifetime.[/QUOTE]
Not the public, but maybe someone would.
drone rebellion
Awesome. Though I really wish I could go like walk around on other planets and shit and see them in your own eyes.
Perhaps that dream isn't that far away...
How dare the title suggest that we don't know it's one of the closest.
[QUOTE=Neo Kabuto;37909873]Proxima Centauri is Alpha Centauri C.[/QUOTE]
It's in a triple star system! :eng101:
[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Alpha_Centauri_relative_sizes.svg/452px-Alpha_Centauri_relative_sizes.svg.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://www.miqel.com/images_1/space_photos_maps/new-binary-triplet-star-systems.gif[/IMG]
[QUOTE=Nutt007;37914768]It's in a triple star system! :eng101:[/QUOTE]
They haven't fully confirmed it. They're not quite sure still if Proxima is in the gravitational influence of orbit. It is 0.2 ly from the barycentre of the 2 stars, so it could be a passerby.
[QUOTE=Nutt007;37914768]It's in a triple star system! :eng101:
[IMG]http://upload.wikimedia.org/wikipedia/commons/thumb/5/53/Alpha_Centauri_relative_sizes.svg/452px-Alpha_Centauri_relative_sizes.svg.png[/IMG]
[IMG]http://www.miqel.com/images_1/space_photos_maps/new-binary-triplet-star-systems.gif[/IMG][/QUOTE]
So would Proxima basically be like a nightlight? Having three suns would be pretty cool.
[QUOTE=Niklas;37907236]Sad to think we can't go there in our lifetime.[/QUOTE]
Lawrence Livermore National Laboratory is probably going to have fusion ignition within 20 years. Add another 20 years for someone to engineer a highly effective heat engine to utilize the thermal energy released by such a reaction, then another 20 for someone to miniaturize it for vehicle use. We'll probably have cracked the prevention of telomere degradation in humans by that point, so you won't even be that old on a biological level. [img]http://i.somethingawful.com/forumsystem/emoticons/emot-science.gif[/img]
Never think negatively. I know that past generations always talked like I am, but living a life of nihilism and sadness about what will not be in your life is the wrong thing to do.
[QUOTE=PN_Redux;37909077]It would be interesting to see how this will pan out. but 40 years is also a long time. If they do build and launch one itll certainly take years and sadly the great mind today might not live to see it.[/QUOTE]
Goddard never lived to see his brain-child take the first humans to the moon.
"Come on Humanity, Alpha Centari is only 50 light years away."
Vogons.
I'm pretty sure most stars have planets orbiting them. Think about it, if all that material is around to create a star, then there's plenty more for planets, and in our short time of being able to detect planets orbiting stars, we've found on average more than one planet per star
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