quote:Originally posted by T:man: Let's say we actually achieve even just light speed travel. If i remember correctly, the nearest star is 800 light years away, so we still have nowhere to go. Just a thought.
The nearest star, Proxima Centauri, is only 4.22 light years away.
Nearest PLANET is another story, though...
Posts: 3486 | Registered: Sep 2002
| IP: Logged |
posted
The colonists would have no help anyways. They would be years of travel away from earth. Even communication would take many years.
Posts: 15770 | Registered: Dec 2001
| IP: Logged |
posted
I think that if we can move matter at the speed (or close enough) of light, i think we will be able to communicate to those colonists pretty fast.
Posts: 1574 | Registered: May 2008
| IP: Logged |
posted
You are mistaken, C3PO. We would indeed be able to communicate with our colonists pretty fast; to wit, at lightspeed. Using the nifty device known as radio. Which T's honours classes apparently have not covered.
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
posted
I had a rather amusing thought at one point; it's suggested that if it were possible for matter to travel at the speed of light, it would take all the energy in the universe to accelerate it to that speed.
My thought was- what if it were possible to make a sort of "pocket universe" entirely for the purpose of using all energy in said universe for acceleration?...
...I suspect this has about as much bearing on real-world physics as Douglas Adams' Improbability Drive, but the idea amused me.
Posts: 3826 | Registered: May 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by Sterling: it's suggested that if it were possible for matter to travel at the speed of light, it would take all the energy in the universe to accelerate it to that speed.
Unfortunately, the amount required is actually infinite, which is rather more than the entire amount of energy in the universe. Of course, if you actually did use up all the energy in the universe, velocity would cease to have any real meaning anymore.
quote:Originally posted by fugu13: The colonists would have no help anyways. They would be years of travel away from earth. Even communication would take many years.
It depends on what sort of help is needed. Non perishable food and other supplies could certainly be sent, especially to a location within a few light years. There would obviously be no bail out in the event of an emergency, but longer term aid could certainly be available.
Posts: 2437 | Registered: Apr 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by King of Men: You are mistaken, C3PO. We would indeed be able to communicate with our colonists pretty fast; to wit, at lightspeed. Using the nifty device known as radio. Which T's honours classes apparently have not covered.
I mentioned this in another thread, but one of the episodes of the Universe on the History Channel stated that SETI has determined that radio signals degrade into noise within just a few light years. Even radio communication might not be possible.
Perhaps if we install some sort of interim signal booster along the way...
Posts: 1080 | Registered: Apr 2006
| IP: Logged |
quote:Originally posted by King of Men: You are mistaken, C3PO. We would indeed be able to communicate with our colonists pretty fast; to wit, at lightspeed. Using the nifty device known as radio. Which T's honours classes apparently have not covered.
I mentioned this in another thread, but one of the episodes of the Universe on the History Channel stated that SETI has determined that radio signals degrade into noise within just a few light years. Even radio communication might not be possible.
Perhaps if we install some sort of interim signal booster along the way...
I'm not sure what SETI said precisely, but we can detect EM radiation from many millions of light years away, including radio frequencies as well as visible light, microwave, x-ray, and gamma rays. I don't think there's any reason we can't send a communication across insterstellar distances. Whether it uses radio frequencies or a laser or a microwave beam...it should be possible.
Posts: 4287 | Registered: Mar 2005
| IP: Logged |
quote:but we can detect EM radiation from many millions of light years away, including radio frequencies as well as visible light, microwave, x-ray, and gamma rays. I don't think there's any reason we can't send a communication across insterstellar distances. Whether it uses radio frequencies or a laser or a microwave beam...it should be possible.
Oh, it's definitely possible. The problem is arrival time.
Posts: 14554 | Registered: Dec 1999
| IP: Logged |
posted
My point was that Tman said "pretty fast", and then C3PO said "only with an ansible". Light-speed is, in fact, "pretty fast". Radio doesn't depend on being able to move matter close to c.
We can certainly send Morse or some similar low-bandwidth, low-fidelity-needed expedient across stellar distances. Voice transmission would be more difficult, but who cares?
Posts: 10645 | Registered: Jul 2004
| IP: Logged |
Printer-friendly view of this topic
![[Dont Know]](graemlins/dontknow.gif)
