Can Interstellar Travel Be Achieved Through Advanced Relativity Calculations?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the feasibility of interstellar travel through advanced calculations of relativity, exploring the implications of traveling at relativistic speeds. Participants examine the theoretical aspects of acceleration, the physical limitations of human bodies under high g-forces, and the potential for future propulsion technologies.

Discussion Character

  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation
  • Debate/contested

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants propose that traveling at relativistic speeds could make interstellar distances manageable, as time dilation would allow travelers to experience significantly less time than those remaining on Earth.
  • Others question the practicality of achieving such speeds, particularly the challenges of acceleration to 0.999999c and the physical limits of human endurance under high g-forces.
  • One participant suggests a method of acceleration involving sustained g-forces, while others challenge the feasibility of such acceleration and the required propulsion systems.
  • Concerns are raised about the energy requirements for accelerating a spacecraft to relativistic speeds, with estimates suggesting it would require an impractical amount of energy.
  • Some participants reference a NASA paper discussing speculative propulsion concepts, questioning its reliability and relevance to current research.
  • There is a discussion about the implications of human height on g-loading and the potential for advanced propulsion systems to mitigate the effects of acceleration on crew members.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views, with no clear consensus on the feasibility of interstellar travel at relativistic speeds. While some are optimistic about the theoretical possibilities, others highlight significant practical challenges and limitations.

Contextual Notes

Participants note the speculative nature of some propulsion concepts discussed, as well as the limitations of current technology and understanding of human physiology under extreme conditions. The discussion also touches on the historical context of research in propulsion systems.

  • #31
Couple of things...

1] All the discussion about getting up close to c traveling speed might be better based from the idea of maintaining just 1g of acceleration. Without accounting for relativistic velocity addition, just plain 1g for one year just about reaches c, so with taking into account the relativistic velocity addition one can make a 500ly trip accelerating and decelerating to arrive in about 12 years passenger time.

There is a space travel calculator here to play with some assumptions...

2] While experiencing 1g is nice for the trip, experiencing the exposure to hard radiation is a problem. Heavy shielding becomes a further problem, but the human genome project is way ahead of schedule and the solution to radiation damage may turn out to be not shielding but simply continuous repair (medical nanobots, or similar).

3] Not yet space traveling, we continue to hold a tight grasp to the comfort of being in a particular "time"... clearly a serious space traveling society must learn to be comfortable with the idea that all one's possible connections must be local, at whenever the encounters occur...
 
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  • #32
bahamagreen said:
experiencing the exposure to hard radiation is a problem. Heavy shielding becomes a further problem, but the human genome project is way ahead of schedule and the solution to radiation damage may turn out to be not shielding but simply continuous repair (medical nanobots, or similar).
If technology is such that you can accelerate continuously at 1 g for 20 years of proper time, then the technology is pretty godlike -- many centuries more advanced than anything we have. The amounts of energy involved are insane. Given that, I can't imagine that exposure to ionizing radiation is such a technologically difficult problem. We have plenty of perfectly reasonable ways of dealing with it using present or near-future technology.
 

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