A star among the stars: Voyager I leaves the solar system

Ha! I like your analogy better.

 

If we knew there was life within a reachable distance from us, like 5 year travel, would we go?

Would people bitch about tax dollars? Would we be worried about germs? War?

 

If it was that close, and we knew it was that close, tax dollars and desire wouldn't be an issue. A Richard Branson type would put together a privately funded mission, and there would be no shortage of volunteers willing to go.

 

If this happens, the "volunteers" should be mid-level criminals with long sentences (a la, Britian with Australia back in the day).
1) Saves people tax dollars and jail overcrowding goes down.
2) Most criminals are resourceful and some would rather be in space than prison for 5-10 years.
3) If it goes horribly wrong, well, you still can refer to No. 1.

 

Anyone who knows more about such things than I do:

What are the physical limitations to speeding up space travel once you escape Earth's atmosphere/gravity? I'm not talking warp drive or anything, but it looks like you could pick up the pace going to the moon or Mars. If you are relying on fossil fuel propulsion, there would be limits. Do we not have the technology to build some kind of nuclear propulsion system where you could just point your ship where you are heading and keep your foot on the throttle?

 

The amount of energy required to accelerate (and decelerate) a vehicle to (and from) inter-star-travel velocities staggers the imagination. The bulk of scientific opinion is that humans will most likely never get beyond our own solar system.

This is from Wikipedia, so you're welcome to quibble, but the math she don't lie ...

And, there are limits regardless of what propulsion method you choose. To accelerate an electron (which is virtually mass-less) to the speed of light would require an infinite amount of energy.

 

If we can have nuclear-powered submarines, why not spacecraft?

 

We would go. I would go.

It's in our nature to keep reaching, keep trying, keep going...for as long and as far as we can.

We would do it just because we can. Or else, because we think we can.

It's the same reasoning/perspective that goes into climbing Mt. Everest, or meeting any challenge or unknown, really, and is part of what gives life meaning for us.

 

We do. Most, if not all, deep space probes are nuclear powered. The Voyagers, launched in 1977, even have small nuclear reactors on board. The environmentalists don't like it because they're afraid of what might happen if the rocket blows up on launch, so there have been efforts to scale it back.

Nuclear power, though, isn't a factor in terms of propulsion. The nuclear reactors just provide power for the spacecraft's systems. Getting them up to speed takes different processes. It's like asking why you need to put gas in your car when you have a battery.

 

I am watching Dr. Who for the first time, and it was interesting that in one episode all the information on a space probe was used against us.

 

Oh. Science hurts my head.

 

Interesting points caused by relativity.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Space_travel_using_constant_acceleration

A starship traveling to Alpha Centauri at near-light speed would take four years (not counting acceleration and deceleration, which add time).

To us on Earth, it would look like four years. But to the passengers on the ship, the time elapsed would seem much shorter — the closer to light speed they get, the shorter the voyage gets for the crew. Months rather than years. Maybe even weeks if they can push it to 99.9% light speed.

Here's a time dilation calculator which can figure how much elapsed onboard time would pass:

http://hyperphysics.phy-astr.gsu.edu/hbase/relativ/tdil.html