Starship Enterprise could be a reality by 2032, engineer says

reply to post by wdkirk


Well technically it was but ideologically....

lol thank goodness you showed the shuttle and not the carrier

The shuttle version is like comparing a steam powered train to a maglev... and if your government wasn't wasting so much money on wars and defence then maybe they could have done better... sad but true!

would be cool but damn slow if they're using ion thrusters.

i remember a thread from a while back saying that scientists have created a tractor beam, now they'll have something to put that tractor beam on.

if they offer you to be part of the enterprise crew, dont be the only cadet on an away mission because you will die.

reply to post by listerofsmeg


If you simplify a tractor beam, it all revolves around magnetic's right?

It wouldn't be that hard to create or control..

That's my opinion of "tractor beams" Although I could be wrong..

reply to post by Havick007


This is the Tractor beam. (or optical tweezers)
3 Laser Tractor Beam - BBC

This is also cool but cancelled projects.
Project Prometheus and NERVA and Ion Thrusters

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


What is so funny about ion drives? they already exist and have been used in one space probe and are being further developed by NASA as we speak.

here and here

reply to post by listerofsmeg


Whe you say laser beams (I also read the majority of the BBC article) I can't help but think of remote or distance sampling?

Similar to temperature sampling with a laser?

So from a remote distance you can sample the temp or chemical composition of an object or matter without actually coming into contact with it.

The is different to a tractor beam though which is like an invisible cable or object pulling the other object closer to the target vehicle or object?

Much like a magnetic cable or tow..

reply to post by namehere


Yes but the Ion drives discussed in reality compared to Sci-fi versions are very different in what they actually do or a capable of.

reply to post by Havick007


well of course, not without warp drives and matter/anti-matter reactors, besides in star trek the ion drives were not used for long periods of deep space travel anyways nor were they exaggerated in description or usage on the show.

Originally posted by namehere
reply to post by lonewolf19792000

 

What is so funny about ion drives? they already exist and have been used in one space probe and are being further developed by NASA as we speak.

here and here

Ion Drives are too slow and take too long for doing anything meaningful in space.

The only way that a 'spaceship' should even be considered would be if Fusion or better was available as a means of propulsion. Fusion still wouldn't be good enough for anything other than exploring the solar system but it's the absolute minimum engine spec that should be considered if you wanted to construct a spaceship.

If I was in charge of a space agency, I would scrap every single project. Forget the waste of sending probes, manned missions to Mars, Moon, Asteroids etc. Everything would be put into next generation propulsion systems. Even if it took decades, that is where all my focus would be placed.

reply to post by namehere


Yeah from what I understood they were more used for short-range travel. ( in-terms of today's tech) it was energy efficient for short term or "impulse drive" and very short distance thrusters but no great leap in regard to long distance travel.

So they're taking the ideas from magnetohydrodynamics and propulsion of submarines and applying it to space propulsion and renaming it an ion drive...

If there's no warp speed there's no ship. How do we go the speed of light again??? Yeah... Ok

It fizzled out for subs because it was more expensive and less efficient than the propellers, probably due to the resistance still present in the water medium, but in space, I can see where the less resistance could possibly work, but only if there was a fluid of some sort furnished by the vessel since particles in space are harder to come by in order to ionize. There's less resistance because there's less density and there's less density because there are fewer particles.
Interesting to see how it pans out

Originally posted by Poopooplatter
If there's no warp speed there's no ship. How do we go the speed of light again??? Yeah... Ok

Nah, you have to look at the prequels and how they built up to the warp speed

reply to post by big_BHOY


with the right power source a space craft with ion drives could reach mars in 3 to 6 months.

Originally posted by namehere
reply to post by lonewolf19792000

 

What is so funny about ion drives? they already exist and have been used in one space probe and are being further developed by NASA as we speak.

here and here

Because they are slow? Why keep shoving money into a project that already works but could soon be replaced by actual "warp"?

Right now it's impossible to travel lightspeed because of infinite mass, so you have to go faster than light which tachyons can do and tachyons also phase shift which if i remember correctly watching something on the science channel, helps solve the infinite mass problem.

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000

Originally posted by namehere
reply to post by lonewolf19792000

 

What is so funny about ion drives? they already exist and have been used in one space probe and are being further developed by NASA as we speak.

here and here

Because they are slow? Why keep shoving money into a project that already works but could soon be replaced by actual "warp"?

Right now it's impossible to travel lightspeed because of infinite mass, so you have to go faster than light which tachyons can do and tachyons also phase shift which if i remember correctly watching something on the science channel, helps solve the infinite mass problem.

By the time they get the ship built, which the ion drive justifies, they may have made the breaktthrough for a faster propulsion but it won't do much good if they still have to build the ship, so it's easier to retrofit than it is to build from scratch

Originally posted by namehere
reply to post by big_BHOY

 

with the right power source a space craft with ion drives could reach mars in 3 to 6 months.

With a 200mW reactor, VASIMR could do it in around 40 days.

Ion propulsion is useless for a manned ship.

reply to post by lonewolf19792000


because the cost, NASA with its tiny budget is not afforded the luxury of such grand projects as real warp drives yet.

Originally posted by PurpleChiten

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000

Originally posted by namehere
reply to post by lonewolf19792000

 

What is so funny about ion drives? they already exist and have been used in one space probe and are being further developed by NASA as we speak.

here and here

Because they are slow? Why keep shoving money into a project that already works but could soon be replaced by actual "warp"?

Right now it's impossible to travel lightspeed because of infinite mass, so you have to go faster than light which tachyons can do and tachyons also phase shift which if i remember correctly watching something on the science channel, helps solve the infinite mass problem.

By the time they get the ship built, which the ion drive justifies, they may have made the breaktthrough for a faster propulsion but it won't do much good if they still have to build the ship, so it's easier to retrofit than it is to build from scratch

And what about gravity? Humans cannot stay out in the void indefinately without gravity, our bodies are not made for long periods of weightlessness. The issues with gravity/anti-gravity still need to be solved. All this seems like wishful thinking to me.