Where 1st Interstellar Starship Should Visit

[Mentalcase]

All the stars we see could all ready be gone. They need to explore all directions and not only one far away.

Some, only some. Besides, we are talking about a short trip here. Nothing 100's of light-years away.

I agree with going to Alpha Centauri!! It's very close (the closest, little over 4 light-years)) and a binary star system. We can learn tons about other systems. It would shed light on whether these systems are ideal for planet forming, which I believe is inevitable.

Whoever said that we should worry about our planet before going, isn't considering the fact that our planet can't be saved. As much as I would love to see that and as optimistic as I am, I can see the reality here. Humans are a virus, that destroy their environment. If we found another planet to inhabit, we could "save" this planet. Less people = better planet.

Now the notion of staying in our solar system because, we don't have the ability to go to Mars. Is incorrect. Although, personally, I wouldn't send man there until our techs were much, much better. I just don't agree with sending man anywhere till we find a planet suitable for us to survive on. The chances of that are astronomical! So, in other words, I think we are on the brink of discovering multiple planets suitable for some type of life.

LOL BMK!!!

[Wyvernkeeper]

the historians are under orders to deny that they explored anything more then Newfoundland.

ummm, no .... Historians don't follow 'orders.'

[libstaK]

we should begin to care about our own planet before thinking about going somewhere else.

News Flash - that ship has sailed

Hence the need for an escape to new territory where we can expand our messing with up with environments and eco systems for the almighty dollar

[Erikl]

I still think we should first concentrate on exploring and colonizing our own solar system. But carrying humans on barrels filled with millions of tons of fuel through space just to bring 2-4 humans to some rock near by is stupid. When mind upload will become a reality, robots should be built on Mars and on Venusian atmospheric stations that will download those human minds into themselves. Then light speed travel will be possible. The only reason for real space stations should be mining, and that too should be done by machines.

[DONTEATUS]

It is crazy ! We should just e-mail all our DNA across the Cosmos !

[Erikl]

It is crazy ! We should just e-mail all our DNA across the Cosmos !

And how will you reconstruct it?

[Khaleid]

But you just can't get three sunsets on one horizon like that!

It depends on how fast we can get. If we can make only 10% of light speed, we would be there in 43 years. It would take 4 years for the transmissions to get back here I would not see it most likely, but my son would.

LINK

That's true, it would be an awesome sight I bet...

I like the link

[psyche101]

That's true, it would be an awesome sight I bet...

I like the link

You are most welcome, and for all my enthusiasm, I have to say you are probably right. I would not mind knowing what lies under the Ice on Europa. An Alien fishy thing would be something to really get excited about in our backyard. I am just glad I do not have to make the decision, worse than a kid in a candy store!

[Sweetpumper]

Prove it.

Okay.

[itsnotoutthere]

I will tell you a little secret. We have already been out there exploring other planets and solar systems. How is this possible? We have had the technology since the 1950s to travel to the stars. See Project Orion on google. This project was based on a nuclear pulse concept where atomic and hydrogen bombs would be exploded behind space ships weight thousands of tons to 1/3 the speed of light. The project was ended because of the 1963 test ban treaty which banned the nuclear explosions in the atmosphere.

However, there are other forms of power perfected since such as fusion engines. We are told that after 60 years of research we have not been able to build such an engine. But that is a big lie. Here is an example of a fusion engine the size of an egg which can power a star ship: see US Patent #4,023,065 entitled METHOD AND APPARATUS FOR GENERATING AND UTILIZING A COMPOUND PLASMA CONFIGURATION dated Oct. 24, 1973 by Paul Koloc. According to the NY Times he was a retired US Navy research physicist who called his device a compact thermonuclear reactor suitable to drive space ships. This engine was probably perfected in the 1950s and finally granted a patent in 1973. The device would heat up deurerium fuel to 100 million degrees. It makes the USS Enterprise on Star Trek look like an obsolete piece of junk.

The secret space program. So for decades we have our ships or UFOs vising other star systems and exploring whether they are useful for colonization. It may be hard to believe that men from earth have already walked on planets in other stat systems.

So why the secrecy? They have learned from history. Five hundred years before Columbus Vikings explored North America. What were the people told during those years? The earth was flat and you can fall off it if you travel into the ocean. Then in 1452 the Muslims conquered Constanopole and cut off trade with the east. Now the Europeans are in trouble and need new sources of resourses. So out came the ancient maps and given to the explorers. The Vinland Map was published in Europe a few years later and it showed the coast of North America. The Piri Reis Map was given to Columbus and it showed the Caribbean and South America. And now the entire world was opened to colonization. What I find interesting is that even today there are things about these early Viking explorations that are still secret and the historians are under orders to deny that they explored anything more then Newfoundland.

So I call this the Viking stage of space exploration where secret space missions are common and if we happened to see one of thsoe giant UFOs we are told they are aliens. So when will the government decide to tell us the truth? When they feel the time is ripe and with over 7 billion people and increasng rapidly it cannot be to long into the future.

You are one sick puppy. Go get professional help before it's too late.

[Mike 215]

IF you feel I am sick, then tell me where the many billions that are appropriated each year by congress which go into a black budget where even the congressmen do not even know what is going on. And secret bases all over the place such as Area 51 where the signs promise that they will put a bullet in your heat if you try to go on the base.

To prove I am sick, you have to prove that these billions are not going into secret space programs and Area 51 does on contain advanced sacecraft that can travel to the starts. Good Luck.

[Muenzenhamster]

The only "black" budget that the USA has goes towards funding CIA subterfuge, clandestine arms deals, prison camps, and making deals with "allies" for their help in "interrogations," since "America doesn't torture anyone..." Concerning the groom lake complex (your "area 51"): you didn't think the Stealth Fighter or the SR-71 Blackbird came out of a Cracker Jacks box did you?! If you trespass at Fort Knox they'll shoot you in the head too. That doesn't mean they're building spaceships with the help of E.T. Trust me, the crap that governments do DAILY is a whole lot scarier than these conspiracy fantasies.

[psyche101]

IF you feel I am sick, then tell me where the many billions that are appropriated each year by congress which go into a black budget where even the congressmen do not even know what is going on. And secret bases all over the place such as Area 51 where the signs promise that they will put a bullet in your heat if you try to go on the base.

To prove I am sick, you have to prove that these billions are not going into secret space programs and Area 51 does on contain advanced sacecraft that can travel to the starts. Good Luck.

Would it not be more appropriate for you, who is making the claim, to prove that your claims are valid?

We can travel to the starts?

Orion theoretically only went to 8% to 10% of the speed of light, not 30%. I would like to know how Minmag Orion is going. Results are "inconclusive" as far as I know.

Edited October 12, 2011 by psyche101

[scowl]

Would it not be more appropriate for you, who is making the claim, to prove that your claims are valid?

He's under the impression that it's our job to convince him that he's wrong.

[itsnotoutthere]

IF you feel I am sick, then tell me where the many billions that are appropriated each year by congress which go into a black budget where even the congressmen do not even know what is going on. And secret bases all over the place such as Area 51 where the signs promise that they will put a bullet in your heat if you try to go on the base.

To prove I am sick, you have to prove that these billions are not going into secret space programs and Area 51 does on contain advanced sacecraft that can travel to the starts. Good Luck.

"even the congressmen do not even know what is going on" ......but apparently you do. Presumably your pay grade is above that of a congressman.

[psyche101]

He's under the impression that it's our job to convince him that he's wrong.

Well lets, be fair, who started this?

[BrandOfAmber]

Back to the question in the thread, the answer is fairly obvious from an astronomical perspective. We would go first to the closest system.

When speaking in galactic terms, we'd go to Andromeda.

[DONTEATUS]

I say we just Blast out there on a whim ! We cant Go wrong ,right ?

[psyche101]

Back to the question in the thread, the answer is fairly obvious from an astronomical perspective. We would go first to the closest system.

When speaking in galactic terms, we'd go to Andromeda.

We are in a system, so this would be the closest system wouldn't it?

At 2.6 million light years, I can't see us jaunting over to Andromeda soon, by the time we get there and back, we might as well just wait for Andromeda to hit us.

Like the Milky Way, the Andromeda Galaxyhas satellite galaxies, consisting of 14 known dwarf galaxies. This might be a better option if we were contemplating leaving the galaxy, should such a mission ever be viable, which I doubt.

Voyager 1, in 40,000 years, will float by within 1.6 light years (9.3 trillion miles) of a star known as AC+79 3888 (aka Gliese 445) in the constellation Camelopardalis.

Voyager 2, in 296,000 years, will sail within 4.3 light years (25 trillion miles) of Sirius, which today is the brightest star in Earth's sky.

Voyager 1 would take 350,000 years to reach Gliese 581c. Even gravitational slingshots to accelerate a craft wouldn't make significant difference to journey time. A nuclear-powered rocket harnessing fission energy cut 90% off the journey time, but it would still be a 30,000 year trip.

Voyager 1 is departing the Solar System at a speed of 39,000 miles per hour.

Voyager 2 is departing the Solar System at a speed of 35,000 miles per hour.

[Hazzard]

All the stars we see could all ready be gone. They need to explore all directions and not only one far away.

Not all of them, but good point.

First we find and identify a planet with biology on it,... then, we figure out a way to get there.

[psyche101]

I say we just Blast out there on a whim ! We cant Go wrong ,right ?

“Second star to the right…and straight on ’til morning.” - Captain Kirk, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

[DONTEATUS]

“Second star to the right…and straight on ’til morning.” - Captain Kirk, Star Trek VI: The Undiscovered Country

I would Blast in a Texas Min ! THeres nothing like a real adventure !