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Interstellar Travel; Your thoughts on starships
Topic Started: Apr 26 2009, 09:32 PM (3,303 Views)
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In theory it's a great idea. In practice, I doubt it could hold up.

I prefer the idea of solar sails, myself.

A possibility we haven't talked much about is the generational ship, basically a Space Ark. We could feed people (cloned meat, hydroponics, e.t.c), recycle matter (like we do in modern spaceships, but perhaps more effectively), with nuclear fussion reactors we could power the craft, most of the technology needed we already have, at least, it seems that way. What do you guys think a Space Ark would be like, and how do you think the people on it would live?
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Probably the most plausible mode of space travel is wormholes.

In my science fiction stories, all my aliens that have interstellar travel make use of wormholes? How you may ask? In my sci-fi stories, I propose that the universe is completely made up of quantum foam. Imagine the universe as a block of cheese. It surrounds everything. You can't get from one corner of the block to another without having to touch other points of the cheese.

Now, if you cut holes in the cheese to make it Swiss cheese, you could cross from Corner A to Corner B without having to be stalled by all points of the cheese. You could almost instantly cross from Corner A to Corner B.

Now. The universe is all quantum foam, plus regular matter, dark matter, dark energy, and some anti-matter. The quantum foam has microscopic holes in it, but they are too small for even an atom to get through. In order to widen the holes, one must hold it open using some kind of matter, preferably negative matter. Eject this at the front of your ship and eject positive matter (it cancels negative matter out, closing the hole) behind you. Travel will be almost instantaneous from point A to point B.
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Ànraich
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As a fellow writer of science fiction I have to give you a bit of advice; try not to explain the technology too much. People criticize it and disprove it, calling your stories unrealistic and ridiculous. If you, however, leave it unexplained chances are that someone smart comes along and gets interested in it and eventually explains it, giving you the credit for the idea while making for an entertaining story.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Yorick
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Completely agree, Parasky.

I suggest reading "Sphere" and "Timeline" by the late, great Michael Crichton, Canis Lupis. (If you haven't already...)
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Parasky
May 19 2009, 05:11 PM
As a fellow writer of science fiction I have to give you a bit of advice; try not to explain the technology too much. People criticize it and disprove it, calling your stories unrealistic and ridiculous. If you, however, leave it unexplained chances are that someone smart comes along and gets interested in it and eventually explains it, giving you the credit for the idea while making for an entertaining story.
Yeah, for example, All Tomorrows by Nemo Ramjet (sucks that it is now offline along with the near entirety of his website) dosen't explain how superiorly advanced the technology of the sophonts are. It even states that explaining the comings and goings of the New Empire to a 21st century human is like explaining geopolitics to a hunter-gatherer. It just leaves it up to the reader to figure it out, though the imagination of an asteromorph would be infinitely superior to a human today. In short, aside from the vivid imagination and the plausibility in the creatures, the ambiguity also makes it very good book, as it just keeps you thinking about how this or that happened or what technology they could use.

I agree completely, Parasky.
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Ànraich
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Ambiguity is an author's best friend.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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ATEK Azul
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I heard of an idea for space travel that involves moving the space, matter, reality ect from point a too point b by cutting it out and moving it outside of reality or some thing like that so that distance doesn't really exist?

Sounds impluasible too me but i thought i would mention it.
I am dyslexic, please ignore the typo's!
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

I know. That's not part of a story. I was just explaining it to you science fans who would understand what I'm saying.

In the story I first mention that in, I just say: "These aliens make use of wormholes to traverse the universe."

And yes Yorick, I've read "Timeline", but not "Sphere". Guess I'll have to, but I'm wanting to read "Congo" and his new book first.

Don't worry. I don't overly explain. I draw a lot of writing tips from Stephen King and from watching "Fringe", so I know how important ambiguity is.


I know you guys say I shouldn't overly explain it (and I agree), but how plausible is the technology method? Any suggestions you could give me about the technology?
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Genesis
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I greatly support the use of a Redshift Rocket utilizing rotation-based artificial gravity to make a near-decade long journey to Proxima Centauri and back. The ship would have to have its own biosphere, and would have to comfortly hold an extremely large number of people to prevent the mental deprivation that occurs in isolation within a small group for years on end, but would not need to be a generation ship.

As for antimatter production, this would require manipulation of matter at a quantum level, not bashing subatomic particles together and hoping they coincidentally form antimatter, like trogolodytes crushing sticks together to make fire, as we form it today.

Still, I think this is the most easily reachable interstellar technology. It would be much easier with unmanned missions, of course, but then it would be nearly impossible to revieve transmissions unless it comes back to Earth, by some miracle.

Still, I do not believe that Interstellar travel will EVER become as commercial and commonplace as it is on Star Trek or Animorphs or Star Wars, unless we could find a form of energy that travels many times faster than light and use it to propel us in some way. This is the concept I'm using in the Book I've been writing.
Edited by Genesis, May 23 2009, 12:17 AM.
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

The thing about antimatter:
Sure it can produce a lot of energy when it collides with matter, but antimatter takes a long time to produce. If you want to fill a coffee can with antimatter, it would take about a million years to even get halfway full.
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Genesis
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Like I said- we would have to find a way to manipulate the subatomic particles of matter directly. Once we can do that, it becomes very simple to produce it quickly. Of course, once we start using antimatter more, the most disastrous era of human history will begin.

Today, we basically bash particles together and hope it randomly forms antimatter. That's the problem- precision is the key. Its like whatching two planets collide and hoping the molecules come together just right to form an exact replica of the Ifle Tower on the new planet's surface.
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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

We'd have to get more advanced quickly if we are even to dream of making it past our solar system.




I wonder:
What would of happened had John F. Kennedy's space plan been followed step by step. Here's what I know of the plan:

1960's: reach the Moon
1970's: reach Mars
1980's: reach Saturn
1990's: reach Alpha Centari

It's a somewhat implausible plan, but interesting if it were carried out.



Probably the best way to get to another world is through indirect means. Nanotech perhaps. We shoot them away from Earth's orbit and they make their way to other worlds. Since they're so much smaller than anything, they could travel through my hypothesized quantum pores without much aid.

Once they're on the planet, they can form a mechanical eyeball to record everything they see, then relay the messages back to Earth.
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Genesis
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Assuming your hypothesis is accurate, how would you keep the information with which to form that "Eyeball" when you get there? Even DNA requires a few molecules.

Also, if we could make it to Alpha Centauri in ten years, we could make it to Pluto and Back in under twenty-four hours
Edited by Genesis, May 24 2009, 05:18 PM.
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Ànraich
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ATEK Azul
May 22 2009, 06:38 PM
I heard of an idea for space travel that involves moving the space, matter, reality ect from point a too point b by cutting it out and moving it outside of reality or some thing like that so that distance doesn't really exist?

Sounds impluasible too me but i thought i would mention it.
What you mean a warp drive? No, it's possible. In fact, we could already build them, if we could generate enough power to actually bend space-time. The idea stems from the fact that objects with mass have gravity, and that gravity is, in fact, the object's mass bending space-time around it. Like setting a bowling ball on a tightly stretched blanket (only a little more complex, as it involves three dimensions). Dr. Michio Kaku came up with the idea and explained how it could work. So technically, Michio Kaku has invented the warp drive; nobody can power it yet.
We should all aspire to die surrounded by our dearest friends. Just like Julius Caesar.

"The Lord Universe said: 'The same fate I have given to all things from stones to stars, that one day they shall become naught but memories aloft upon the winds of time. From dust all was born, and to dust all shall return.' He then looked upon His greatest creation, life, and pitied them, for unlike stars and stones they would soon learn of this fate and despair in the futility of their own existence. And so the Lord Universe decided to give life two gifts to save them from this despair. The first of these gifts was the soul, that life might more readily accept their fate, and the second was fear, that they might in time learn to avoid it altogether." - Excerpt from a Chanagwan creation myth, Legends and Folklore of the Planet Ghar, collected and published by Yieju Bai'an, explorer from the Celestial Commonwealth of Qonming

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Canis Lupis
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Dinosaurs eat man, woman inherits the Earth.

Ever hear of messenger theory?

If one nanobot gets to the world and has a means of reproducing without organic compounds, then it could theoretically program itself. Give it artificial intelligence, a firm understanding of the mission, and a firm understanding of its goal and WHAM!!! you've got a way to cheaply survey a planet without putting human lives at risk.
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