NASA: All hope is gone, were f*cked

[rebgirl420]

Rocket Scientists Say We'll Never Reach the Stars

Many believe that humanity's destiny lies with the stars. Sadly for us, rocket propulsion experts now say we may never even get out of the Solar System.

At a recent conference, rocket scientists from NASA, the U.S. Air Force and academia doused humanity's interstellar dreams in cold reality. The scientists, presenting at the Joint Propulsion Conference in Hartford, Connecticut, analyzed many of the designs for advanced propulsion that others have proposed for interstellar travel. The calculations show that, even using the most theoretical of technologies, reaching the nearest star in a human lifetime is nearly impossible.

"In those cases, you are talking about a scale of engineering that you can't even imagine," Paulo Lozano, an assistant professor of aeronautics and astronautics at the Massachusetts Institute of Technology and a conference attendee, said in a recent interview.

The major problem is that propulsion -- shooting mass backwards to go forwards -- requires large amounts of both time and fuel. For instance, using the best rocket engines Earth currently has to offer, it would take 50,000 years to travel the 4.3 light years to Alpha Centauri, our solar system's nearest neighbor. Even the most theoretically efficient type of propulsion, an imaginary engine powered by antimatter, would still require decades to reach Alpha Centauri, according to Robert Frisbee, group leader in the Advanced Propulsion Technology Group within NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

And then there's the issue of fuel. It would take at least the current energy output of the entire world to send a probe to the nearest star, according to Brice N. Cassenti, an associate professor with the Department of Engineering and Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. That's a generous figure: More likely, Cassenti says, it would be as much as 100 times that.

"We just can't extract the resources from the Earth," Cassenti said during his presentation. "They just don't exist. We would need to mine the outer planets."

Rocket Scientists Say We'll Never Reach the Stars

Well guys, were fucked haha. Damn you science, your witchcraft fails again!

rebgirl420 Reviewed by rebgirl420 on 08-20-2008. NASA: All hope is gone, were f*cked Rocket Scientists Say We'll Never Reach the Stars Many believe that humanity's destiny lies with the stars. Sadly for us, rocket propulsion experts now say we may never even get out of the Solar System. At a recent conference, rocket scientists from NASA, the U.S. Air Force and academia doused humanity's interstellar dreams in cold reality. The scientists, presenting at the Joint Propulsion Conference in Hartford, Connecticut, analyzed many of the designs for advanced propulsion that Rating: 5

[apocolips31]

Who knows what we might discover or learn that could make that possible. I think it is too early to throw in the towel. We already have cryogenics that could be used to freeze someone for very long periods of time.

[rebgirl420]

Yeah it's not the freezing thats hard, it's the un-freezing that doesn't go so well haha.

But your correct, throwing in the towel would be a horrible thing. There is still soooo much out there that we don't know. I have faith in American technology and our people to figure this out.

[Esoteric416]

American technology?

No offense intended Rebgirl, but thats too narrow-minded. This whole thing should be a global concept because it's a global problem. If we as a species just hang out on earth for too long we'll all eventually die from who knows what kind of astonomical event.
Since we are talking about the future of the species it is the resources of the entire species that should be utilized.
I realize that the idea of a truly international research team for interstelar travel probably isnt feisable right now but hopefully in the not too distant future we can pull our collective head out of our collective ass and get together on the important issues.
Like this one.

[grow1964]

We are still in our infancy as a species and as far as technology is concerned. If we dont destroy ourselves first then we may have a chance for us to develope the technologies needed. Thats a big IF though.. There may be some big advances wih the new antimatter generator they are firing up this month or next i think over in Europe. It will probably require another 5-10,000 years for us to develope the technologies needed to leave the solar system

[stinkyattic]

Option A: Use up the resources of our home planet or poison it through nuclear war or pollution, leave smoking remains, go look for new habitat that may or may not exist, choose from those who are left who gets to go.

Option B: Put same effort into improving conditions on the planet we already conveniently inhabit.

An analogy:

A person buys a house. The roof is leaky. He ignores it, and it becomes a hole. The hole gets bigger, and in a few years the house is damaged beyond repair due to freeze/thaw cycles, mold, animal chewing, and loss of structural integrity of all plaster surfaces. Now he has to buy a new house, and can't really sell the current one for much more than a tear-down, when a simple new roof would have allowed him to live happily in the house he already owns.

Let's work on our own house first, and see what neat stuff our Solar System neighborhood has to offer!

[Psycho4Bud]

Let's work on our own house first, and see what neat stuff our Solar System neighborhood has to offer!

Hell yeah! I don't think that I'd be that anxious to go trippin' through space anyways....never know what ya might return to.

Have a good one!:jointsmile:

[higher4hockey]

the stars? shit i'll be happy with reaching old age.

[killerweed420]

Yeah I'd like to see a global effort. NASA's only job now is to put spy sats in the sky. If we're not going to us NASA for what it was intended for lets scrap it.

[stinkyattic]

Hell yeah! I don't think that I'd be that anxious to go trippin' through space anyways....never know what ya might return to.

Yeah dude. I don't want to come home to Mark Wahlberg either. All set.