Scientists find most Earth-like planet yet
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John Cardinal wrote:
It will be cool to have an ever increasing catalog of planets that could sustain life just to dream about in a future when people might actually find a way to get to them.
Actually, getting to them is not so hard.... per se... but we only have the ability in a generation ship. Building the monster is hard, but not impossible, living on it would be hard, but not impossible. Doing a solar slingshot with ion boost definitely not impossible, switching to atomic power when ion propulsion runs out, certainly not impossible either. It would not be a hydrogen powered ship, unless we had a fusion core.... that is still a bit too science fictionish. We just don't know how to reach there in one generation.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
I don't know if it's really that easy. All attempts to build a prototype human habitable self contained environment have met with little success so far and that was just for short terms. Short of a vast rethink of allowing full-on genetic engineering research I suspect the problems are all but insurmountable. I suspect we will never see generational ships that are such a staple of early speculative fiction. It's up against so many aspects of human nature that I really don't see it ever happening unless it becomes some sort of necessity. FTL travel I suspect will be the only thing that get's humans off the terran couch. Even if I didn't mass over a thousand pounds there, 19 light years is a hell of a long way to go on the chance it's not a barren rock.
"110%" - it's the new 70%
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I don't know if it's really that easy. All attempts to build a prototype human habitable self contained environment have met with little success so far and that was just for short terms. Short of a vast rethink of allowing full-on genetic engineering research I suspect the problems are all but insurmountable. I suspect we will never see generational ships that are such a staple of early speculative fiction. It's up against so many aspects of human nature that I really don't see it ever happening unless it becomes some sort of necessity. FTL travel I suspect will be the only thing that get's humans off the terran couch. Even if I didn't mass over a thousand pounds there, 19 light years is a hell of a long way to go on the chance it's not a barren rock.
"110%" - it's the new 70%
John Cardinal wrote:
All attempts to build a prototype human habitable self contained environment have met with little success so far and that was just for short terms.
But have we really truly tried? no. The few attempts were overzealous scientists who really didn't think it through. And they were already under-cutting minimal sustainable living. Single crop failures and everything goes. No the best way is to use food byproducts as refertilization and grow more than you need. We know this, we're just trying to find a way around it, because it is a royal pain in the behind.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
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Gliese 581 is among the 100 closest stars to Earth, just 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.[^] Man I hope it's not a dud. The problem with verifying this is we haven't been able to send a probe outside our solar system, excluding those that are untethered.
"Religion is assurance in numbers." - Bassam Abdul-Baki Web - Blog - RSS - Math - LinkedIn - BM
Bassam Abdul-Baki wrote:
Gliese 581 is among the 100 closest stars to Earth, just 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.[^] Man I hope it's not a dud. The problem with verifying this is we haven't been able to send a probe outside our solar system, excluding those that are untethered.
Guess a small correction as I read it.. Its earth like, but the imp thing being that its the first one discovered outside our solar system.
Cheers, Prasad Kheljade Life Is Not About The Number Of Breaths You Take, But About The Moments That Take Your Breath Away
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Gliese 581 is among the 100 closest stars to Earth, just 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.[^] Man I hope it's not a dud. The problem with verifying this is we haven't been able to send a probe outside our solar system, excluding those that are untethered.
"Religion is assurance in numbers." - Bassam Abdul-Baki Web - Blog - RSS - Math - LinkedIn - BM
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"Most of the 200 or so planets that have been spotted outside this solar system have been gas giants like Jupiter" :laugh: Doesn't it stand to reason that they will find bigger planets first with the current technology? It will be cool to have an ever increasing catalog of planets that could sustain life just to dream about in a future when people might actually find a way to get to them.
"110%" - it's the new 70%
Here goes my peace...
--------------- don't P A N I C
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I don't know if it's really that easy. All attempts to build a prototype human habitable self contained environment have met with little success so far and that was just for short terms. Short of a vast rethink of allowing full-on genetic engineering research I suspect the problems are all but insurmountable. I suspect we will never see generational ships that are such a staple of early speculative fiction. It's up against so many aspects of human nature that I really don't see it ever happening unless it becomes some sort of necessity. FTL travel I suspect will be the only thing that get's humans off the terran couch. Even if I didn't mass over a thousand pounds there, 19 light years is a hell of a long way to go on the chance it's not a barren rock.
"110%" - it's the new 70%
John Cardinal wrote:
I suspect we will never see generational ships that are such a staple of early speculative fiction. It's up against so many aspects of human nature that I really don't see it ever happening unless it becomes some sort of necessity.
Agreed. Who would want to condemn their offspring for N generations to live inside a spaceship, never seeing a sunset over the ocean or a forest in autumn colours? Plus no system is 100% closed loop, there are always losses, so the inhabitants would be condemned to spend generations in a slowly-decaying shell, drifting through space with no idealogical link to, or memories of, the people who started the journey.
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lol...I hope that can happen...and then code in peace.
happy coding
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I don't know if it's really that easy. All attempts to build a prototype human habitable self contained environment have met with little success so far and that was just for short terms. Short of a vast rethink of allowing full-on genetic engineering research I suspect the problems are all but insurmountable. I suspect we will never see generational ships that are such a staple of early speculative fiction. It's up against so many aspects of human nature that I really don't see it ever happening unless it becomes some sort of necessity. FTL travel I suspect will be the only thing that get's humans off the terran couch. Even if I didn't mass over a thousand pounds there, 19 light years is a hell of a long way to go on the chance it's not a barren rock.
"110%" - it's the new 70%
John Cardinal wrote:
FTL travel I suspect will be the only thing that get's humans off the terran couch.
Don't forget hibernation and relativistic STL!!! :-) -- Mariano Chouza
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Gliese 581 is among the 100 closest stars to Earth, just 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.[^] Man I hope it's not a dud. The problem with verifying this is we haven't been able to send a probe outside our solar system, excluding those that are untethered.
"Religion is assurance in numbers." - Bassam Abdul-Baki Web - Blog - RSS - Math - LinkedIn - BM
I wish we could get away with crap like that in application development: Well, we think the program might do your taxes for you, and it could possibly make coffee, but we don't know at what time of day, and it might even be able to add two integers together... ... What am I saying?!? We DO get away with crap like that in application development!
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John Cardinal wrote:
I suspect we will never see generational ships that are such a staple of early speculative fiction. It's up against so many aspects of human nature that I really don't see it ever happening unless it becomes some sort of necessity.
Agreed. Who would want to condemn their offspring for N generations to live inside a spaceship, never seeing a sunset over the ocean or a forest in autumn colours? Plus no system is 100% closed loop, there are always losses, so the inhabitants would be condemned to spend generations in a slowly-decaying shell, drifting through space with no idealogical link to, or memories of, the people who started the journey.
The simple truth is, those sights will only be available for another generation or two at best. Between ever-increasing urban population concentration and conversion of wild areas into 'productive' land through development or agriculture, the children aren't near those sights to begin with, and they are becoming harder and harder to find.
Software Zen:
delete this; -
John Cardinal wrote:
It will be cool to have an ever increasing catalog of planets that could sustain life just to dream about in a future when people might actually find a way to get to them.
Actually, getting to them is not so hard.... per se... but we only have the ability in a generation ship. Building the monster is hard, but not impossible, living on it would be hard, but not impossible. Doing a solar slingshot with ion boost definitely not impossible, switching to atomic power when ion propulsion runs out, certainly not impossible either. It would not be a hydrogen powered ship, unless we had a fusion core.... that is still a bit too science fictionish. We just don't know how to reach there in one generation.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Jeffry J. Brickley wrote:
Actually, getting to them is not so hard.... per se... but we only have the ability in a generation ship.
Nuclear pulse propulsion has a high enough Isp to reach the nearest stars in a lifetime. Three cheers for Old Boom-Boom. http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Project_Orion_%28nuclear_propulsion%29[^]
-- CleaKO The sad part about this instance is that none of the users ever said anything [about the problem]. Pete O`Hanlon Doesn't that just tell you everything you need to know about users?
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I don't know if it's really that easy. All attempts to build a prototype human habitable self contained environment have met with little success so far and that was just for short terms. Short of a vast rethink of allowing full-on genetic engineering research I suspect the problems are all but insurmountable. I suspect we will never see generational ships that are such a staple of early speculative fiction. It's up against so many aspects of human nature that I really don't see it ever happening unless it becomes some sort of necessity. FTL travel I suspect will be the only thing that get's humans off the terran couch. Even if I didn't mass over a thousand pounds there, 19 light years is a hell of a long way to go on the chance it's not a barren rock.
"110%" - it's the new 70%
19 light years is a hell of a long way to go on the chance it's not a barren rock Yeah, but it'd be your descendants who'd find out about that.;P That is, of course, assuming the ship was built by somebody like the guys who built Spaceship One, as opposed to those who built the shuttle.
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Gliese 581 is among the 100 closest stars to Earth, just 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.[^] Man I hope it's not a dud. The problem with verifying this is we haven't been able to send a probe outside our solar system, excluding those that are untethered.
"Religion is assurance in numbers." - Bassam Abdul-Baki Web - Blog - RSS - Math - LinkedIn - BM
You know first thing I thought of when i saw the news blurb about that earth like planet was, what if at the same time the people of said planet, let's call it Fubaria... just discovered earth too! PX1337 -- Most Fubaria-like planet ever! Just a thought...
"I've learned that life is one crushing defeat after another, until you just wish Flanders was dead." [Homer J Simpson]
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John Cardinal wrote:
FTL travel I suspect will be the only thing that get's humans off the terran couch.
Don't forget hibernation and relativistic STL!!! :-) -- Mariano Chouza
Mariano Chouza wrote:
Don't forget hibernation and relativistic STL!!!
For some reason relativistic STL always gets forgotten when these issues are discussed. It's only the reporting back that presents an insurmountable problem based on current physics knowledge, not getting there.
Kevin
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John Cardinal wrote:
It will be cool to have an ever increasing catalog of planets that could sustain life just to dream about in a future when people might actually find a way to get to them.
Actually, getting to them is not so hard.... per se... but we only have the ability in a generation ship. Building the monster is hard, but not impossible, living on it would be hard, but not impossible. Doing a solar slingshot with ion boost definitely not impossible, switching to atomic power when ion propulsion runs out, certainly not impossible either. It would not be a hydrogen powered ship, unless we had a fusion core.... that is still a bit too science fictionish. We just don't know how to reach there in one generation.
_________________________ Asu no koto o ieba, tenjo de nezumi ga warau. Talk about things of tomorrow and the mice in the ceiling laugh. (Japanese Proverb)
Hitch a ride on voyager 1, at 36,000 miles/hour the fastest man-made object. You could reach the planet in 280,000 years. Before you leave I'd check the planet out as best you can, to be sure your descendants will like it!:):-D:-D
codewizard
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Gliese 581 is among the 100 closest stars to Earth, just 20.5 light-years away in the constellation Libra.[^] Man I hope it's not a dud. The problem with verifying this is we haven't been able to send a probe outside our solar system, excluding those that are untethered.
"Religion is assurance in numbers." - Bassam Abdul-Baki Web - Blog - RSS - Math - LinkedIn - BM