How Can We Reach Habitable Exoplanets?

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Discussion Overview

The discussion centers on the feasibility of reaching habitable exoplanets, particularly focusing on the challenges of interstellar travel and the technological limitations involved. Participants explore theoretical possibilities, current technological constraints, and the implications of recent scientific estimates regarding the number of potentially habitable planets.

Discussion Character

  • Debate/contested
  • Exploratory
  • Technical explanation

Main Points Raised

  • Some participants cite estimates of 11 billion habitable planets around sun-like stars and 40 billion around red dwarfs, questioning how to reach the nearest exoplanet.
  • Others argue that current or foreseeable technology makes interstellar travel impossible.
  • Concerns are raised about the vast fuel requirements for interstellar travel, with comparisons made to the challenges of sending humans to Mars.
  • One participant references Robert L. Forward's work on energy and interstellar missions, suggesting a historical context for the discussion.
  • Another participant challenges the precision of the terminology used regarding the number of habitable planets, emphasizing the distinction between the observable universe and the entire universe.
  • Some participants express skepticism about making long-term predictions regarding technological advancements, citing historical inaccuracies in predicting technological capabilities.
  • There is a discussion about the speed of light as a limiting factor for travel, with some suggesting that traveling at 10% of the speed of light could allow for significant distances to be covered in a century.
  • Concerns are raised about engineering challenges, such as shielding, that would need to be addressed for interstellar travel, with an acknowledgment that these may be solvable in the future.

Areas of Agreement / Disagreement

Participants express a range of views, with some agreeing on the challenges of interstellar travel while others remain optimistic about future technological advancements. There is no consensus on the feasibility of reaching habitable exoplanets or the implications of current scientific estimates.

Contextual Notes

Limitations include the reliance on current technological understanding and the assumptions made about future advancements. The discussion also highlights the ambiguity in terminology regarding the number of habitable planets.

cjackson
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According to Wikipedia, there could be as many as 11 billion planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars, with the closest potentially 12 light years away. That number goes up to 40 billion if you include red dwarfs. How would we even go about getting to the nearest Exoearth?
 
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It's not possible with current or foreseeable technology or physics.
 
We are still trying to figure out how to safely send humans to mars, which is obscenely close compared to the nearest star. The fuel requirements alone are vast beyond imagination. Realistically, it appears interstellar travel is centuries beyond our grasp. For discussion, see http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.1066.
 
Robert L. Forward is cited in your
Energy, incessant obsolescence, and the first interstellar missions
 
cjackson said:
According to Wikipedia, there could be as many as 11 billion planets in the habitable zone of sun-like stars, with the closest potentially 12 light years away. That number goes up to 40 billion if you include red dwarfs. How would we even go about getting to the nearest Exoearth?
In addition to the other responses, be aware that your statement is not, technically, correct. Science depends on precise terminology and you have described a limited range without specifying it. That is, you have implied that "11 billion planets" encompasses the entire universe but it does not, it is the subset in the observable universe, not "the universe". Just because Wikipedia gets it wrong (and I'm assuming they did not say observable universe) does not make it right. The number of planets in the universe could be infinite in which case the number of inhabitable planets is also infinite and that's WAY bigger than 11 billion :smile:
 
Chronos said:
We are still trying to figure out how to safely send humans to mars, which is obscenely close compared to the nearest star. The fuel requirements alone are vast beyond imagination. Realistically, it appears interstellar travel is centuries beyond our grasp. For discussion, see http://arxiv.org/abs/1101.1066.
Our knowledge is increasing more rapidly than ever before. I would not make predictions for centuries in the future. The past is full of wrong "impossible"-predictions about technology. Sure, you can take the last decades and extrapolate into the future - I wonder which number of computers or spaceflights for today such a prediction would have given 1915.

@phinds: that number refers to our galaxy.
 
mfb said:
Our knowledge is increasing more rapidly than ever before. I would not make predictions for centuries in the future. The past is full of wrong "impossible"-predictions about technology. Sure, you can take the last decades and extrapolate into the future - I wonder which number of computers or spaceflights for today such a prediction would have given 1915.
I agree w/ you, but the speed of light limit doesn't seem like something that is going to go away.

@phinds: that number refers to our galaxy.
Ha. An even smaller limit that should have been specified.
 
I'm not talking about superluminal travel - 10% the speed of light allow to travel 10 light years in 100 years.
 
mfb said:
I'm not talking about superluminal travel - 10% the speed of light allow to travel 10 light years in 100 years.
Sorry, I should have been more clear. I didn't for a minute think you were talking about FTL. At 10% of c, I still think there are very significant shielding problems and others as well. I do agree that these are primarily just engineering problems and who knows what we might have to address them with in 50 years or 100 years and more.
 

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