Hypothetical flight to distant worlds
Today, when the nature of the cosmos is generally understood by any schoolchild, the eternal human desire for knowledge beckons us into the depths of the universe. Unfortunately, even using the latest technology, humanity is still difficult to break away from its cradle.
Of course, there are several ideas that give us hope, but ... Some of them may become available in the future, and some are just theories at all, and may never be available ...
All this leads to sad thoughts. And I would like to share these thoughts with you, because - in fact - it is still sadder.
')
I have already calculated in general terms the impossibility of super-long journeys. In this article I want to stop at a detailed discussion of one such made-up flight in order to visually show all the related problems.
Our mission: On a hypothetical space vessel to fly a huge distance (say, 5 light years) with great speed (say, 10,000,000 km / h - 0.01 from light) to a hypothetical star system with planets, one of which is habitable and return ( ?)
The great genius of cosmonautics Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky "showed" that if we use a jet engine, then almost the whole body of our spacecraft must consist of fuel. On average, everything that today has flown more or less far from the Earth, consisted of about 95% or more of fuel.
Voyazder and similar devices designed for the study of distant spaces were launched and dispersed once, at the very start, and later accelerated due to gravitational maneuvers. After the first acceleration, they almost do not use fuel (only a small amount of it for turns around its axis and minor route adjustments). Our ship, unlike them, should move much faster - 2700 kilometers per second versus 13 Voyager! To achieve such a result by gravitational maneuvers is either very difficult, or just impossible in our Solar System due to the lack of suitable masses.
Therefore, for acceleration, you need to stock up a huge amount of fuel. The lightest alternative to date is ionic engines . Having a small burden, they allow to save on the initial mass of our rocket due to the greater acceleration time. Unfortunately, even the latest models are still raw and serve relatively long, at least for the purposes of the mission.
Moving at a speed of 0.01 from the speed of light is very difficult to go into the orbit of any planet. Therefore, we need to slow down at the end of the road, and for this we need about as much fuel as for overclocking.
Another caveat - we need a little more fuel to correct the route. We cannot know exactly where the star will be at the moment we reach it. Dozens of years may pass, and the Universe, as we know, does not stand still.
Of course, things are not changing so quickly, but the star, to which we are flying, certainly will not remain in place during our flight.
Also, we do not know the exact location of the planets, their mass and other parameters. Of course, the amount of fuel needed for adjustment cannot be compared with the total amount of fuel in our ship, and in this situation, ionic engines will come to our aid. I'm just trying to take into account all the nuances for more interesting.
Suppose that using new engines we will be able to create a ship suitable for our tasks, whose fuel tanks will be smaller than a small city. Even if we have to accelerate for a long time and slow down.
I confess at once that I intend to break the rules of the mission, because if this is not done, at this stage we will have to cancel the trip. We will not be able to reach our star, with the speed specified in the task. More precisely, it will be possible to get there, but this will take about 500 years! There will be little confusion from the ship, which can send the first news after 505 years.
I propose to add an extra zero to our speed, then the flight time is reduced to 50 years. This is also a lot, but at least the people participating in the launch of the ship will be able to receive his first message. Yes, and the technologies used are not so obsolete - after 500 years, the warp engine can already invent or open a hyper-space, having overcome these 5 light years faster than our ship.
However, this zero does not help us much. In addition to achieving high speed, she herself is a big problem for a spacecraft. Outer space is not as empty as it seems. In addition to separately flying atoms and molecules (mainly hydrogen), there are many larger particles, including "specks of dust", "grains of sand" and "pebbles". All of them are moving towards the ship at a speed of 30,000 km / s, and this, if we assume that they are resting relative to the surrounding space. If the probability to meet a boulder, a stone or a speck of dust is small, then in each cubic meter that we will fly by we will meet 500-700 atoms! It may seem that this is not very much, on Earth, for example, it is quite difficult to achieve such a vacuum, but in fact, at such a speed, the collision energy will be enough to heat the hull of our ship quite substantially.
Well, if we are destined to meet a grain of sand, then most likely it will not go without a powerful explosion, the consequences of which can be fatal for the mission. I'm already silent about the pebbles ...
Here you can read a good and detailed article about the objects that we can meet in our journey to the stars.
Suppose we invented a good shield and radiator, which will be located in front of the ship and divert heat into space. In order to continue the mission, we will also have to neglect its size, because, most likely, in order to lift the shield and the radiator from the ship together with the ship, we will have to make the fuel tanks incredibly huge!
With the least probability aliens will be as we used to see them at 90% of illustrations
It is sad that upon arrival we can expect problems of a completely non-cosmic nature. The thing is about the aliens themselves, they can simply incinerate us before we even get closer. The moral side of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence is very interesting. For our part, we are flying with the world, but we can not find reciprocity. Or maybe we will be apprehended with fear, if guests with more militant goals have already visited this civilization. Why should they risk it?
Unfortunately, it is not only sad, but also insulting. We can not firmly say that at the end of the mission we are waiting for the mind, which is also anxious about contact with its neighbors by the stars, like Humanity.
There is another option with over-civilization. For example, the inhabitants of the planet have already seen so much that we are for them only a random ant crawling from the lawn into the room. They will not even pay attention to us.
Finally, we may have such a different mindset that we simply will not converge even in general terms, in the perception of the world. Such examples are infinite.
Most of all, I personally was hooked by the idea that, even if aliens, so to speak, fit us in all parameters (carbon “composition” of life, general ideas and perceptions, a similar view of physical laws, a similar way of transmitting information), we it is no longer desirable to even fly close to their home planet. After all, they can be destroyed by our diseases, for which they have no immunity. Or vice versa. Viruses familiar to theirgreen bodies can quickly adapt to the new range ...
As you can see, something had to neglect, much to break. Interstellar flights are still fantastic for us. But what kind of science fiction does not become reality after some time?
Although the topic of the article is rather pessimistic, I do not in any way doubt the existence of such a mission in the future! The problems of interstellar flights exist, but this does not mean that they are not solvable. Man is born to overcome difficulties and develop. Science not only stands still, but also accelerates.
Since we are stretching to space, we are discussing options for interstellar flights, then we will definitely achieve this!
Of course, there are several ideas that give us hope, but ... Some of them may become available in the future, and some are just theories at all, and may never be available ...
All this leads to sad thoughts. And I would like to share these thoughts with you, because - in fact - it is still sadder.
')
I have already calculated in general terms the impossibility of super-long journeys. In this article I want to stop at a detailed discussion of one such made-up flight in order to visually show all the related problems.
Our mission: On a hypothetical space vessel to fly a huge distance (say, 5 light years) with great speed (say, 10,000,000 km / h - 0.01 from light) to a hypothetical star system with planets, one of which is habitable and return ( ?)
Start and overclocking
The great genius of cosmonautics Konstantin Eduardovich Tsiolkovsky "showed" that if we use a jet engine, then almost the whole body of our spacecraft must consist of fuel. On average, everything that today has flown more or less far from the Earth, consisted of about 95% or more of fuel.
Voyazder and similar devices designed for the study of distant spaces were launched and dispersed once, at the very start, and later accelerated due to gravitational maneuvers. After the first acceleration, they almost do not use fuel (only a small amount of it for turns around its axis and minor route adjustments). Our ship, unlike them, should move much faster - 2700 kilometers per second versus 13 Voyager! To achieve such a result by gravitational maneuvers is either very difficult, or just impossible in our Solar System due to the lack of suitable masses.
Therefore, for acceleration, you need to stock up a huge amount of fuel. The lightest alternative to date is ionic engines . Having a small burden, they allow to save on the initial mass of our rocket due to the greater acceleration time. Unfortunately, even the latest models are still raw and serve relatively long, at least for the purposes of the mission.
Moving at a speed of 0.01 from the speed of light is very difficult to go into the orbit of any planet. Therefore, we need to slow down at the end of the road, and for this we need about as much fuel as for overclocking.
Another caveat - we need a little more fuel to correct the route. We cannot know exactly where the star will be at the moment we reach it. Dozens of years may pass, and the Universe, as we know, does not stand still.
Of course, things are not changing so quickly, but the star, to which we are flying, certainly will not remain in place during our flight.
Also, we do not know the exact location of the planets, their mass and other parameters. Of course, the amount of fuel needed for adjustment cannot be compared with the total amount of fuel in our ship, and in this situation, ionic engines will come to our aid. I'm just trying to take into account all the nuances for more interesting.
Suppose that using new engines we will be able to create a ship suitable for our tasks, whose fuel tanks will be smaller than a small city. Even if we have to accelerate for a long time and slow down.
Speed ​​and distance
I confess at once that I intend to break the rules of the mission, because if this is not done, at this stage we will have to cancel the trip. We will not be able to reach our star, with the speed specified in the task. More precisely, it will be possible to get there, but this will take about 500 years! There will be little confusion from the ship, which can send the first news after 505 years.
I propose to add an extra zero to our speed, then the flight time is reduced to 50 years. This is also a lot, but at least the people participating in the launch of the ship will be able to receive his first message. Yes, and the technologies used are not so obsolete - after 500 years, the warp engine can already invent or open a hyper-space, having overcome these 5 light years faster than our ship.
However, this zero does not help us much. In addition to achieving high speed, she herself is a big problem for a spacecraft. Outer space is not as empty as it seems. In addition to separately flying atoms and molecules (mainly hydrogen), there are many larger particles, including "specks of dust", "grains of sand" and "pebbles". All of them are moving towards the ship at a speed of 30,000 km / s, and this, if we assume that they are resting relative to the surrounding space. If the probability to meet a boulder, a stone or a speck of dust is small, then in each cubic meter that we will fly by we will meet 500-700 atoms! It may seem that this is not very much, on Earth, for example, it is quite difficult to achieve such a vacuum, but in fact, at such a speed, the collision energy will be enough to heat the hull of our ship quite substantially.
Well, if we are destined to meet a grain of sand, then most likely it will not go without a powerful explosion, the consequences of which can be fatal for the mission. I'm already silent about the pebbles ...
Here you can read a good and detailed article about the objects that we can meet in our journey to the stars.
Suppose we invented a good shield and radiator, which will be located in front of the ship and divert heat into space. In order to continue the mission, we will also have to neglect its size, because, most likely, in order to lift the shield and the radiator from the ship together with the ship, we will have to make the fuel tanks incredibly huge!
Finally, arrival and meeting
With the least probability aliens will be as we used to see them at 90% of illustrations
It is sad that upon arrival we can expect problems of a completely non-cosmic nature. The thing is about the aliens themselves, they can simply incinerate us before we even get closer. The moral side of contact with extraterrestrial intelligence is very interesting. For our part, we are flying with the world, but we can not find reciprocity. Or maybe we will be apprehended with fear, if guests with more militant goals have already visited this civilization. Why should they risk it?
Unfortunately, it is not only sad, but also insulting. We can not firmly say that at the end of the mission we are waiting for the mind, which is also anxious about contact with its neighbors by the stars, like Humanity.
There is another option with over-civilization. For example, the inhabitants of the planet have already seen so much that we are for them only a random ant crawling from the lawn into the room. They will not even pay attention to us.
Finally, we may have such a different mindset that we simply will not converge even in general terms, in the perception of the world. Such examples are infinite.
Most of all, I personally was hooked by the idea that, even if aliens, so to speak, fit us in all parameters (carbon “composition” of life, general ideas and perceptions, a similar view of physical laws, a similar way of transmitting information), we it is no longer desirable to even fly close to their home planet. After all, they can be destroyed by our diseases, for which they have no immunity. Or vice versa. Viruses familiar to their
Lyrical result
As you can see, something had to neglect, much to break. Interstellar flights are still fantastic for us. But what kind of science fiction does not become reality after some time?
Although the topic of the article is rather pessimistic, I do not in any way doubt the existence of such a mission in the future! The problems of interstellar flights exist, but this does not mean that they are not solvable. Man is born to overcome difficulties and develop. Science not only stands still, but also accelerates.
Since we are stretching to space, we are discussing options for interstellar flights, then we will definitely achieve this!
Source: https://habr.com/ru/post/364271/
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