Humans may never reach outside our solar system

[TheMrfabio]

 Cliffs:
-It would take 50,000 years to reach the nearest star using the best rockets we have now
-There is not enough energy on earth for even one such trip

Using the best rocket engines Earth currently has to offer, it would take 50,000 years to travel the 4.3 light years to Alpha Centauri, our solar system's nearest neighbor. Even the most theoretically efficient type of propulsion, an imaginary engine powered by antimatter, would still require decades to reach Alpha Centauri, according to Robert Frisbee, group leader in the Advanced Propulsion Technology Group within NASA's Jet Propulsion Laboratory.

It would take at least the current energy output of the entire world to send a probe to the nearest star, according to Brice N. Cassenti, an associate professor with the Department of Engineering and Science at Rensselaer Polytechnic Institute. That's a generous figure: More likely, Cassenti says, it would be as much as 100 times that.

"We just can't extract the resources from the Earth," Cassenti said during his presentation. "They just don't exist. We would need to mine the outer planets."

Mars and the moon is not going to cut it given the fact that the moon and Mars are theoretically dead and can't provide any valuable fossil fuels.

This was a interesting topic when I was studying astronomy in college. It may not matter but make the fact that we can't and won't makes it fascinating.

[MustardTiger17]

Huge if true

[Imaginebreaker]

Technology is exponential. Once AI is perfected and computers can think instead of just following rules that are set for them, you never know what can happen. Of course, it probably won't matter to any of us as I doubt we will be alive.

[lightsarefallin]

in b4 time travel

[Weezy32]

Well good thing earth is fukkin beauriful planet. Srsly i marvel and appreciate the beauty every time i go out in nature.

[Syko617]

we are too busy with war to invest in time, resources and money into space travel.

[jeshelton]

You forgot one very important theory OP

[Oinkerbonk]

I'm sure scientists will figure out in a few decades how to overcome some of those issues.

[TheMrfabio]

Technology is exponential. Once AI is perfected and computers can think instead of just following rules that are set for them, you never know what can happen. Of course, it probably won't matter to any of us as I doubt we will be alive.

Artificial intelligence would be the ultimate version of Google. The ultimate search engine that would understand everything on the web. It would understand exactly what you wanted, and it would give you the right thing. We’re nowhere near doing that now. However, we can get incrementally closer to that, and that is basically what we work on. Scary though tho because we essentially be to robots what dogs are to humans. Makes me uneasy

[rise21]

In theory once the ship is in space wouldn’t the fuel requirements be minimal as there is no resistance? I guess the life support systems etc would use a lot of fuel but they could be powered by solar panels I would think.

[wincel]

That's why I keep telling people the future is not space travel. The future is we make little mini starships and ship microbes off on a 10,000 year journey to potentially habitable worlds (for them, not us). Then a few billion years pass and intelligent life evolves there and passes them on until eventually, conditions get so bad that no life can basically keep going. We represent one of possibly many lineages of independent evolution of life. It's not about humans. People think too narrowly. The long game is about attempting to preserve the lineage of the earth. This is actually, imo the most important and only thing of value we will ever do in the grand scheme of things. I hope we do it before we destroy ourselves.

[rollerball]

That's why I keep telling people the future is not space travel. The future is we make little mini starships and ship microbes off on a 10,000 year journey to potentially habitable worlds (for them, not us). Then a few billion years pass and intelligent life evolves there and passes them on until eventually, conditions get so bad that no life can basically keep going. We represent one of possibly many lineages of independent evolution of life. It's not about humans. People think too narrowly. The long game is about attempting to preserve the lineage of the earth. This is actually, imo the most important and only thing of value we will ever do in the grand scheme of things. I hope we do it before we destroy ourselves.

okay prometheus

[TheMrfabio]

Well good thing earth is fukkin beauriful planet. Srsly i marvel and appreciate the beauty every time i go out in nature.

True. But there is the realities of know there could be hundreds of planets like our out there that will never be discovered

[wincel]

Technology is exponential. Once AI is perfected and computers can think instead of just following rules that are set for them, you never know what can happen. Of course, it probably won't matter to any of us as I doubt we will be alive.

I mean...unless you have antimatter reactors or some chit, it's not happening bro. AI won't really help you. Certain things are actually impossible.

[401Delta]

Imagine if we do ever have the technology to travel that far, yet still wanting to transplant our relatively remedial human operating system into a piece of equipment just to tag along for the ride.

Just LOL @ humancels

[wincel]

okay prometheus

Prometheus was different. I mean send microbes! If you think about it, the grand scheme of things, this is the endgame of intelligent life. We are too clumsy, big, and sensitive to environments to survive elsewhere. But we can send our brother, the bacteria, to other worlds. They already know how to go spore mode and can survive the journey. We just have to figure out how to get them over there and help them survive entering the other armosphere. They will take care of the rest. Just give them a few billion years.

[bezarker]

but many men have reached uranus OP...

[rollerball]

Prometheus was different. I mean send microbes!

either way david's gonna fukk it all up for us

[TheMrfabio]

In theory once the ship is in space wouldn’t the fuel requirements be minimal as there is no resistance? I guess the life support systems etc would use a lot of fuel but they could be powered by solar panels I would think.

Yes either the fuel/ speed to get there and or the life support system to sustain life, Frozen or otherwise. Earth could long be destroyed by that time.

[PaulAllen1995]

I basically just interpreted that as we're ****ed. Lol @ how in movies they predicted we would have flying cars by now boy where they wrong. brb barley even have autonomous cars right now.

[sooby]

Unlocking the secrets of time dilation, negative gravity, hyperspace travel, dark matter, rather than actually building something with enough speed.

[TheMrfabio]

That's why I keep telling people the future is not space travel. The future is we make little mini starships and ship microbes off on a 10,000 year journey to potentially habitable worlds (for them, not us). Then a few billion years pass and intelligent life evolves there and passes them on until eventually, conditions get so bad that no life can basically keep going. We represent one of possibly many lineages of independent evolution of life. It's not about humans. People think too narrowly. The long game is about attempting to preserve the lineage of the earth. This is actually, imo the most important and only thing of value we will ever do in the grand scheme of things. I hope we do it before we destroy ourselves.

We will no doubt inhabit Mars and the moon for these purposes. Mars will be a vacation spot within 20 years.

[rollerball]

Unlocking the secrets of time dilation, negative gravity, hyperspace travel, dark matter, rather than actually building something with enough speed.

the secrets of time dilation? I don't think it's much of a secret as more of a theory right? like rate of time approaching zero as ship approaches light speed and thus ship basically outruns time or something - so by the time you get there everyone at home is long gone

[MikeLowrrrey]

Artificial intelligence would be the ultimate version of Google. The ultimate search engine that would understand everything on the web. It would understand exactly what you wanted, and it would give you the right thing. We’re nowhere near doing that now. However, we can get incrementally closer to that, and that is basically what we work on. Scary though tho because we essentially be to robots what dogs are to humans. Makes me uneasy

I disagree. AI would constantly be solving physic problems 24/7 365 days a year.

[wincel]

We will no doubt inhabit Mars and the moon for these purposes. Mars will be a vacation spot within 20 years.

That's bullchit.

[Underwrought]

Derp we already have engine designs to travel much faster and further for deep space. Just no one has actually built them and sent them into space. Key word OP used is current ROCKET designs. So no it wont take 50k years to travel outside our solar system.

[rollerball]

Derp we already have engine designs to travel much faster and further for deep space. Just no one has actually built them and sent them into space. Key here they used is current ROCKET designs. So no it wont take 50k years to travel outside our solar system.

lol

[TheMrfabio]

That's bullchit.

NASA wants to send humans to the red planet by 2030 and SpaceX wants to get there even sooner, with plans to have people there by 2024

[socalivin]

Let’s worry about going to back to the moon first

[MiamiLife305]

Based on currently technology, no we won't

Wait another 100 years and post this again and chances are you'll be wrong.