Dawn of hope, age of dispair.

As our technology grows we learn more and more about the galaxy around us. We are now identifying large gaseous planets on a regular basis and starting to develope methods to look for smaller rocky planets like earth. With the promises of new technology come the hope of directly seeing planets and details of star systems all around us.

However, with this new dawn of exploration comes the start of what may be a great dispair.

We can now look into the cosmos and detect, and eventually see other planets, yet voyager 1 is not yet even outside of the heliopause of our solar system. We are earth bound, having never even been to the next nearest planet aside from our eyes and our robots.

If, at this state in our technology, we are already bordering on viewing other worlds why is it we are still so earth bound. What is we do find other life? what then? We smile, and look.

The nearest start system to earth is about 4.8 light years away (alpha centauri). This is a short time delay in viewing yet ages in traveling distance. Even if we could build a ship that accelerated at a managable speed, it would take decades to reach this system.

So we face the prospects of seeing life and alien worlds all over our galaxy yet being earthbound by the distances involved. To date there is no prospect of faster than light travel, or for that matter even 10% light travel. What if we start seeing alien worlds every where, and are doomed to just sit by and watch.

Or, even more frustrating... what if we keep looking and see only dead worlds... seeing more and more, and with every new discovery, less hope of not being the sole intelligent race out there.

None of this should stop us from looking, but its a darker side of space exploration to ponder.

This is the dark-side of science. Science allows us to prove something without any direct evidence. We take simple laws of nature and logically deduct truths from it. Why spend a bunch of money going to a planet to prove life may or may not exist there, when we can punch a few numbers and get a reasonable answer? Because it's easier and much cheaper.

Economics is the problem here.

Lets hope Mr. Hawking is right and wormholes can be used for interstellar travel.
www.geocities.com...
It our only hope.

Originally posted by Charlie Murphy
Lets hope Mr. Hawking is right and wormholes can be used for interstellar travel.
www.geocities.com...
It our only hope.

No it isn't. Remember the Warp Drive? I've personally spoken to Physists who actually believe we can do it with minimal power requirements. Of course minimal is a relative term in Geek Speak, here is a good article on the theoretical principals of a Warp Drive.

en.wikipedia.org...

The Alcubierre metric, also known as the Alcubierre drive or Warp drive, is a theoretical model for propelling a spacecraft faster than the speed of light.

The Alcubierre Drive is a solution of Einstein's field equations of general relativity. In this theory, matter distorts the geometry of spacetime, this curved geometry being interpreted as gravity. The physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed a method of stretching space in a wave, causing the space "ahead" of a spacecraft to contract along the axis the spacecraft wishes to travel in and the space "behind" it to expand. The ship would ride this wave inside a region, known as a "warp bubble", of flat space. Since the ship is not actually moving within this bubble, but rather being carried along as the region itself moves, conventional relativistic effects do not apply. There is no known way to induce such a wave, however, or to leave it once started; the Alcubierre drive remains a theoretical concept at this time.

[edit on 29-5-2005 by sardion2000]

Originally posted by Rev_Godslapper
This is the dark-side of science.

Originally posted by Charlie Murphy
It's our only hope.

I recently saw SW Episode 3, and that annoying Burger King commercial and was going for the humourous effect, but I guess it didn't work.

I do remember reading about the Warp Drive which was given credibility in 1994, and how it doesn't break the the laws of physics because of the bubble. Either way we would negative energy to go the distance.







[edit on 30-5-2005 by Charlie Murphy]

Originally posted by Quest
Or, even more frustrating... what if we keep looking and see only dead worlds... seeing more and more, and with every new discovery, less hope of not being the sole intelligent race out there.

Not a bad thing.

Because the day we spot another intelligent species, the game is on.

And that implies the ability to... cough... lose.

I don't think we're really that hopeless. I mean, in the 1940's, did people really think that we would be landing on the moon in 20 years? You will never know whats going to happen in the future so don't lose hope just yet!

And plus we don't even have the capability to detect earth sized planets. Why should we expect anything at this point That's just setting yourself to look like either an Idiot or a Prophet 50/50 chance either way. Personally I would adopt a wait and see approach instead of looking at the Universe in a Bleak way. You should lighten up a bit Quest and let your imagination soar as in 10-15 years you may not have that chance as we may know for certain where habitable planets are located, and givin the law of probability we will find one eventually wether they are rare or abundant.

[edit on 30-5-2005 by sardion2000]

With so many theories out there out different propulsion systems its only going to be a matter of time before we get something that can be used effectively over large distances.