Fun Idea

I feel we're at a point where we got to admit the oldschool rocket space travel won't get us anywhere beyond our little solar system.

What I think we should focus on is to crack what spacetime is actually made of and what could tunnel through it.
I know sending a full ship through would cost an insane amount of energy.
But how about we create something like a cell with a script to seek out material and self assemble at the destination?
Sure the other huge question would be how we could receive the data it collects, but with the tunneling there could also a communication 'line' be established, possibly.

Not saying what we're doing right now is completely pointless, just that we should really start getting creative.
What'cha thinking?

a reply to: Peeple

Sounds a lot like a advance form of teleportation.

Creating a complex living thing out of local materials in a distant galaxy with a invisible force that can traverse the universe.
I would think human teleportation would be easier, but still scary if it is the star trek kind, you are basically disintegrated and dies.. and a clone of your former body appear else where. Think of that, every time we see them use teleporters in star trek.. they die.

a reply to: Spacespider

That's my issue with that idea of teleportation. You wouldn't be the same person unless we figured out some way to also quantify the consciousness and transfer it to the new body.

originally posted by: Peeple
I feel we're at a point where we got to admit the oldschool rocket space travel won't get us anywhere beyond our little solar system.

What I think we should focus on is to crack what spacetime is actually made of and what could tunnel through it.
I know sending a full ship through would cost an insane amount of energy.
But how about we create something like a cell with a script to seek out material and self assemble at the destination?
Sure the other huge question would be how we could receive the data it collects, but with the tunneling there could also a communication 'line' be established, possibly.

Not saying what we're doing right now is completely pointless, just that we should really start getting creative.
What'cha thinking?

Without rethinking physics, or outside help, we’re going nowhere beyond our solar system ever. Dark matter won’t help us, it doesn’t exist.

originally posted by: Peeple

But how about we create something like a cell with a script to seek out material and self assemble at the destination?

Not a cell, but the idea of the von Neumann Probe is similar -- a self-replicating space probe.

Imagine aliens sent such a self-replicating cell or probe and it ended up on Earth and destroyed our civilisation, or even all life on this planet?

Regarding rocket technology, we're already using/experimenting with alternatives. Ion propulsion has been used for decades, but it's slow, very very slow. Another alternative is solar sails, and laser propulsion.

I don’t think we have the capabilities here for it yet, maybe if we find new chemicals or minerals on Mars, asteroid or something, then we can make more technological leaps, that’s if TPTB haven’t already done that and are doing it all behind the scenes