megaplayboy Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! 1 light Year? You know you can do it with just 1 Light Minute, not send anything up and don't have to wait that long for the daily reports? Well, a LY is more of a big deal. Any sort of interstellar "colonization" is going to involve extremely long communication delays, and is going to require incredibly safe, incredibly sustainable living conditions for the colonists, particularly in deep space. Plus, if we can even pull off a habitable space station 1 LY away, we can guarantee our species' long-term survival, even when the Sun grows and burns our homeworld to a cinder. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! If you're going to go to 1 l-y, might as well go to the next star. In fact, that might be easier; getting to zero velocity is lots easier when you have a big stellar mass you can couple to gravitationally and dump kinetic energy and momentum. If you really want deep space, the Kuiper Belt will do, unless there's some unknown/made-up physics that only works when you are really outside a stellar gravity well. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
dmjalund Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! Another difference between 1 Light-minute and 1 Light year, is at 1LY, you can't use solar power Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! Another difference between 1 Light-minute and 1 Light year' date=' is at 1LY, you can't use solar power[/quote'] Exactly. Yet another reason to want to test the viability of such a manned outpost. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! Secret Space Plane to Land in California But don't tell anyone -- it's a secret after all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! Another difference between 1 Light-minute and 1 Light year' date=' is at 1LY, you can't use solar power[/quote'] Exactly. Yet another reason to want to test the viability of such a manned outpost. At that distance it can't workout resources from outside, because of the lack of solar power. You need to get energy from somewhere. Even our Ecosystem is nothing more than a Solar-Energy collector with some decents storage capacity (oil, a lot of plants). 100% of the energy we humans use comes from the Sun. Some radioactive elements are an exception, but those have a limtied amount of energy. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! The sun is limited also, just on a larger scale. While the vast majority of humanity's energy does come from the sun, it's not quite 100%. Outside of radioactives (which includes geo-thermal), aren't there some generating stations that use the lunar tides for power? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! The sun is limited also' date=' just on a larger scale.[/quote'] All the energy in the unvierse is limited, just on a really, really big scale - 1st Law of Thermodynamics. While the vast majority of humanity's energy does come from the sun' date=' it's not quite 100%. Outside of radioactives (which includes geo-thermal), aren't there some generating stations that use the lunar tides for power?[/quote'] Okay, tides might be an exception. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! There's geothermal power as well, which is partly radioactive in origin, partly gravitational. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! All the energy in the unvierse is limited' date=' just on a really, really big scale - 1st Law of Thermodynamics.[/quote'] Yep. Okay, tides might be an exception. Along with nuclear. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! Along with nuclear. Not entirely. All the radioactive material has been formed in Stars, particaulary those that went supernova. So even radioactive material is Solar power - just not from our sun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! And I noticed that while tidal power isn't directly from the sun, it wouldn't work without it: The planet would cool out rapidly, the seas would freeze over. No more (usable) tides. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! If the tides are severe enough, no, you can sustain a liquid interior portion (though not surface) without solar energy input. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
megaplayboy Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! At that distance it can't workout resources from outside, because of the lack of solar power. You need to get energy from somewhere. Even our Ecosystem is nothing more than a Solar-Energy collector with some decents storage capacity (oil, a lot of plants). 100% of the energy we humans use comes from the Sun. Some radioactive elements are an exception, but those have a limtied amount of energy. Well, isn't that pretty much the same problem faced by even relatively fast interstellar travel? No solar power once you get out to a certain distance, so you have to rely on stored reserve energy for everything, not just propulsion. And you have to do so for a very long time. If we can't do that for a few years even 1 LY out, I don't see how we get it done on some slow interstellar trip, potentially tens of light years out. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
McCoy Posted June 8, 2012 Report Share Posted June 8, 2012 Re: More space news! I hope it doesn't. I really don't want our first people living permanently on Mars to be because of a Big Brother-style "Reality Show". Not my first choice, but better than no humans on Mars at all. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Re: More space news! Not entirely. All the radioactive material has been formed in Stars, particaulary those that went supernova. So even radioactive material is Solar power - just not from our sun. Nice try, but you're trying to stretch the definition of "solar": [h=2]so·lar[/h]1 /ˈsoʊlər/ Show Spelled[soh-ler] Show IPA adjective 1. of or pertaining to the sun: solar phenomena. 2. determined by the sun: solar hour. 3. proceeding from the sun, as light or heat. And the radioactives (used for power) here on Earth were not formed in our Sun. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted June 9, 2012 Report Share Posted June 9, 2012 Re: More space news! And I noticed that while tidal power isn't directly from the sun, it wouldn't work without it: The planet would cool out rapidly, the seas would freeze over. No more (usable) tides. Europa. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Christopher Posted June 10, 2012 Report Share Posted June 10, 2012 Re: More space news! Asteroid impacts are so outclassed now: Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted June 11, 2012 Report Share Posted June 11, 2012 Re: More space news! Space is twisted! Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Re: More space news! Frame-dragging. Think about it enough and you will really hurt yourself. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
SteveZilla Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Re: More space news! Coalescing, counter-rotating black holes, each with their own different frame-dragging. That hurts to think about. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Cancer Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Re: More space news! Add in oblique magnetic fields on each of the BHs and ... maybe it'd just be easier to dive into one of them. Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Narf the Mouse Posted June 12, 2012 Report Share Posted June 12, 2012 Re: More space news! ...Yeah, but how do we use that to go FTL? Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted June 14, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 14, 2012 Re: More space news! Large methane lake found on Titan Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
tkdguy Posted June 15, 2012 Author Report Share Posted June 15, 2012 Re: More space news! Large Asteroid to Fly Past Earth Quote Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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