Science. Freaking awesome science. - Page 3

Lightspeed · 15th August 2016, 13:24

Oh, sweet! I really hope the EM drive pans out.

Ab · 15th August 2016, 13:50

Since my teens we've gone from "no exoplanets anywhere" to "found some gas giants" to "found some rocky planets" to "found some Goldilocks planets thousands of lightyears away" to "fuck me there are planets everywhere" and now "there might be a rocky Goldilocks planet orbiting our next-door neighbour star".

DrTiTus · 15th August 2016, 15:57

It's still too far away.

Ab · 15th August 2016, 16:38

Dafuck, Proxima Centauri is literally the closest star to us that's not called the Sun. If the shit hit the fan we could conceivably get there.

CCS · 15th August 2016, 16:54

How long do you think until we have the technology to get us there?

blynk · 15th August 2016, 16:57

Just randomly. When I got to "New posts" and "Go to last post" it takes me to the end of page 2, rather than this page.

Did it for all 3 comments. Weird.

crocos · 15th August 2016, 17:10

^^^
Ditto.

EDIT:
Call me when they've confirmed an Oxygen/Nitrogen atmo.

MadMax · 15th August 2016, 17:32

so ... why hasn't this been discovered before?

CCS · 15th August 2016, 17:42

Gee I dunno, I guess someone just didn't point his binoculars in the right place.

Ajax · 15th August 2016, 20:59

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ab

Dafuck, Proxima Centauri is literally the closest star to us that's not called the Sun. If the shit hit the fan we could conceivably get there.

It's not even vaguely realistic at the moment. We need a major propulsion breakthrough and many other tech discoveries. Hundreds of years away.

CCS · 15th August 2016, 21:54

Ab must have found a wormhole in the back of his wardrobe.

pkp|ex · 15th August 2016, 23:24

Some drunken calcumalations on that shit;

Distance 4.24 light years is about 3x10^8 * 60 seconds * 60 minutes * 24 hours * 365 days * 4.24 = 40.114 x 10 ^ 15 meters

Which is 40.114 trillion kilometers.

Fastest man made thing in space appears to have been Juno when it got pulled towards Jupiter at around 265,000 km/hr. Thats 6.36 million km per day, and 2.3214 billion km per year.

So taking that very generous velocity as the present day tech, it would take a space taxi over 17,000 years to reach there.

Seems slightly out of reach.

Lightspeed · 16th August 2016, 01:25

It would be a matter of sustained acceleration over a long period of time. The only thing limiting speed is our ability to accelerate and if/how the ship stops once it gets there.

MadMax · 16th August 2016, 01:49

Quote:

Originally Posted by CCS

Gee I dunno, I guess someone just didn't point his binoculars in the right place.

No dickhead. They've been monitoring countless stars for this phenomenon for decades, yet it's only now they notice the same effect on our closest neighbour?

Ab · 16th August 2016, 02:26

1950s technology.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proj...ear_propulsion)

Nothing · 16th August 2016, 02:33

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

The only thing limiting speed is our ability to accelerate and if/how the ship stops once it gets there.

Thing is, those are both pretty fucking serious limitations.

Having said that, I still really like localroger's Passages Into the Void, which, if you read the whole thing, gives some interesting scenarios for humans colonising the galaxy. Dreams are free, I suppose.

CCS · 16th August 2016, 04:31

Quote:

Originally Posted by MadMax

No dickhead. They've been monitoring countless stars for this phenomenon for decades, yet it's only now they notice the same effect on our closest neighbour?

Begging your pardon sir, but its a big ass sky

pkp|ex · 16th August 2016, 05:16

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ab

1950s technology.

https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proj...ear_propulsion)

'technology' which has not been tested ( with nukes ), nevermind perfected.

pkp|ex · 16th August 2016, 05:16

edit: for some reason it double posted. Perhaps some correlation with double vision, double shots, or something.

It's Ab's fault.

Ajax · 16th August 2016, 07:12

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

It would be a matter of sustained acceleration over a long period of time. The only thing limiting speed is our ability to accelerate and if/how the ship stops once it gets there.

Stopping is a significant problem - it requires sustained decceleration equal to the acceleration time. And another headache is that we'd need highly exotic shielding to protect from particles of dust etc in the interstellar medium . When you're travelling at a decent fraction of c, colliding with such stuff would be disastrous.

blynk · 16th August 2016, 09:43

Quote:

Originally Posted by pkp|ex

Some drunken calcumalations on that shit;

Distance 4.24 light years is about 3x10^8 * 60 seconds * 60 minutes * 24 hours * 365 days * 4.24 = 40.114 x 10 ^ 15 meters

Which is 40.114 trillion kilometers.

Fastest man made thing in space appears to have been Juno when it got pulled towards Jupiter at around 265,000 km/hr. Thats 6.36 million km per day, and 2.3214 billion km per year.

So taking that very generous velocity as the present day tech, it would take a space taxi over 17,000 years to reach there.

Seems slightly out of reach.

Yes, but I don't think we are talking about todays technology. Within 10-20years, we could have that down to 100 years, and another 10-20 we could have that down to 3 years.

Cyberbob · 16th August 2016, 10:42

Quote:

Originally Posted by blynk

Yes, but I don't think we are talking about todays technology. Within 10-20years, we could have that down to 100 years, and another 10-20 we could have that down to 3 years.

As far as near-future tech goes, VASIMR is a great contender, as is NEXT.

Lightspeed · 16th August 2016, 12:02

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ajax

Stopping is a significant problem - it requires sustained decceleration equal to the acceleration time.

What I wonder is could a ship be captured by the gravity of the star, so complete deceleration isn't required?

A flyby wouldn't require complete deceleration either.

Cyberbob · 16th August 2016, 12:32

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

What I wonder is could a ship be captured by the gravity of the star, so complete deceleration isn't required?

A flyby wouldn't require complete deceleration either.

Not quite the same, but:
What is Aerobraking?

Ab · 16th August 2016, 12:41

Quote:

Originally Posted by blynk

Yes, but I don't think we are talking about todays technology. Within 10-20years, we could have that down to 100 years, and another 10-20 we could have that down to 3 years.

I'm picturing a scenario in which the Earth faces some sort of existential external threat at a solar-system level - Melancholia-style wandering planet, for example - and it comes down to "we have to get a group of people and a whole bunch of genetic material not only off-planet but out of the solar system or everything on Earth is rendered extinct".

Those are the sorts of situations where I like to imagine the resources and brainpower of the Earth would come up with a get-us-to-Proxima-Centauri solution within years or decades.

pkp|ex · 16th August 2016, 14:50

Quote:

Originally Posted by blynk

Yes, but I don't think we are talking about todays technology. Within 10-20years, we could have that down to 100 years, and another 10-20 we could have that down to 3 years.

So in 40 years we can exceed the speed of light you reckon?

Lightspeed · 16th August 2016, 16:00

I noticed that too and well, maybe. I wouldn't anticipate it happening, but it's could.

I can't imagine the state of science and tech in 40 years, given the last 40.

crocos · 16th August 2016, 16:14

Quote:

Originally Posted by blynk

Yes, but I don't think we are talking about todays technology. Within 10-20years, we could have that down to 100 years, and another 10-20 we could have that down to 3 years.

Acceleration technology isn't accelerating that quickly.

[Malks] Pixie · 16th August 2016, 16:55

Quote:

Originally Posted by Ab

I'm picturing a scenario in which the Earth faces some sort of existential external threat at a solar-system level - Melancholia-style wandering planet, for example - and it comes down to "we have to get a group of people and a whole bunch of genetic material not only off-planet but out of the solar system or everything on Earth is rendered extinct".

Yep - anything less than a solar system scale event will just force us off planet ala the first 3/4 of Seveneves. If we are going to leave the system in the next couple of hundred years it'll be generation ships getting up to maybe 1%c.

Lightspeed · 16th August 2016, 16:56

Quote:

Originally Posted by crocos

Acceleration technology isn't accelerating that quickly.

Yeah, but we're experiencing a massive acceleration in science and technology.

Consider this question for Fyneman and his response in a lecture in Auckland in 1979 (part 2 of the video pkp|ex linked), and then the question that follows.

Caesar · 16th August 2016, 17:27

Didn't Stephen Hawkins say that if we didn't find the ability to get off the planet in the next 100 years we'd be fucked?

This was a few years ago I believe...

MadMax · 16th August 2016, 19:29

Like that moment you realise you've already failed unrecoverably in Civ

blynk · 17th August 2016, 10:39

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

I noticed that too and well, maybe. I wouldn't anticipate it happening, but it's could.

I can't imagine the state of science and tech in 40 years, given the last 40.

Ok, fair enough, I should have kept it at 4.25 years, so it wasn't breaking the speed of light. (but I do believe there will be other ways to get places without breaking the speed of light)

But as LS said, things will advance quicker and quicker.

You all know the story of computers and their advancement.
And their advancement will speed up the advancement of science.

Imagine what we knew about space in 1976, and what we know now.

Ab · 17th August 2016, 11:58

Quote:

Originally Posted by Caesar

Didn't Stephen Hawkins say that if we didn't find the ability to get off the planet in the next 100 years we'd be fucked?

This was a few years ago I believe...

Seems to me that Elon Musk is working as hard as he can on that problem.

CCS · 17th August 2016, 15:00

Elon Musk is just trying to go home to his people.

Lightspeed · 25th August 2016, 13:26

Some more info on the Proxima Centauri b exoplanet:
http://www.ice.cat/personal/iribas/Proxima_b/

Ab · 26th August 2016, 16:36

Quote:

http://www.scientificamerican.com/ar...W_ENGYSUS_NEWS

Scientists have engineered a bacterium that can take carbon dioxide from the air and turn it into fuel in a single enzymatic step.

The process draws on sunlight to produce methane and hydrogen inside the bacterium Rhodopseudomonas palustris, in essence reversing combustion.

fuck yeah science

crocos · 26th August 2016, 20:00

Science: Turning one greenhouse gas into a stronger greenhouse gas since ages!

But real - that's pretty sweet.

Lightspeed · 12th December 2016, 00:35

Quote:

Originally Posted by Lightspeed

I'm real excited about this:

World's largest fusion reactor to turn on this month

Looks like it's been a successful year:
Germany’s Wendelstein 7-X ‘Stellarator’ Is Operating As Expected

Ab · 12th December 2016, 01:01

saw that earlier and I've been "not getting excited not getting excited" all day 🤘🏼

15th August 2016, 15:57	#83
DrTiTus HENCE WHY FOREVER ALONE	It's still too far away. __________________ Finger rolling rhythm, ride the horse one hand...

15th August 2016, 16:54	#85
CCS Stunt Pants	How long do you think until we have the technology to get us there? __________________ I just want to understand this, sir. Every time a rug is micturated upon in this fair city, I have to compensate the owner?

15th August 2016, 17:32	#88
MadMax Stuff	so ... why hasn't this been discovered before? __________________ My degree of sarcasm depends on your degree of stupidity.

15th August 2016, 17:42	#89
CCS Stunt Pants	Gee I dunno, I guess someone just didn't point his binoculars in the right place. __________________ I just want to understand this, sir. Every time a rug is micturated upon in this fair city, I have to compensate the owner?

15th August 2016, 21:54	#91
CCS Stunt Pants	Ab must have found a wormhole in the back of his wardrobe. __________________ I just want to understand this, sir. Every time a rug is micturated upon in this fair city, I have to compensate the owner?

15th August 2016, 13:24	#81
Lightspeed	Oh, sweet! I really hope the EM drive pans out. __________________ Stay shook. No sook.

15th August 2016, 13:50	#82
Ab A mariachi ogre snorkel	Since my teens we've gone from "no exoplanets anywhere" to "found some gas giants" to "found some rocky planets" to "found some Goldilocks planets thousands of lightyears away" to "fuck me there are planets everywhere" and now "there might be a rocky Goldilocks planet orbiting our next-door neighbour star".

15th August 2016, 16:38	#84
Ab A mariachi ogre snorkel	Dafuck, Proxima Centauri is literally the closest star to us that's not called the Sun. If the shit hit the fan we could conceivably get there.

15th August 2016, 16:57	#86
blynk	Just randomly. When I got to "New posts" and "Go to last post" it takes me to the end of page 2, rather than this page. Did it for all 3 comments. Weird.

15th August 2016, 17:10	#87
crocos	^^^ Ditto. EDIT: Call me when they've confirmed an Oxygen/Nitrogen atmo. __________________ Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N وكل يوم كنت تعيش في العبودية Last edited by crocos : 15th August 2016 at 17:11.

15th August 2016, 23:24	#92
pkp\|ex	Some drunken calcumalations on that shit; Distance 4.24 light years is about 3x10^8 * 60 seconds * 60 minutes * 24 hours * 365 days * 4.24 = 40.114 x 10 ^ 15 meters Which is 40.114 trillion kilometers. Fastest man made thing in space appears to have been Juno when it got pulled towards Jupiter at around 265,000 km/hr. Thats 6.36 million km per day, and 2.3214 billion km per year. So taking that very generous velocity as the present day tech, it would take a space taxi over 17,000 years to reach there. Seems slightly out of reach. Last edited by pkp\|ex : 15th August 2016 at 23:27.

16th August 2016, 01:25	#93
Lightspeed	It would be a matter of sustained acceleration over a long period of time. The only thing limiting speed is our ability to accelerate and if/how the ship stops once it gets there. __________________ Stay shook. No sook.

16th August 2016, 02:26	#95
Ab A mariachi ogre snorkel	1950s technology. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/Proj...ear_propulsion)

16th August 2016, 05:16	#99
pkp\|ex	edit: for some reason it double posted. Perhaps some correlation with double vision, double shots, or something. It's Ab's fault. Last edited by pkp\|ex : 16th August 2016 at 05:17.

16th August 2016, 16:00	#107
Lightspeed	I noticed that too and well, maybe. I wouldn't anticipate it happening, but it's could. I can't imagine the state of science and tech in 40 years, given the last 40. __________________ Stay shook. No sook.

16th August 2016, 17:27	#111
Caesar	Didn't Stephen Hawkins say that if we didn't find the ability to get off the planet in the next 100 years we'd be fucked? This was a few years ago I believe...

16th August 2016, 19:29	#112
MadMax Stuff	Like that moment you realise you've already failed unrecoverably in Civ __________________ My degree of sarcasm depends on your degree of stupidity.

17th August 2016, 15:00	#115
CCS Stunt Pants	Elon Musk is just trying to go home to his people. __________________ I just want to understand this, sir. Every time a rug is micturated upon in this fair city, I have to compensate the owner?

25th August 2016, 13:26	#116
Lightspeed	Some more info on the Proxima Centauri b exoplanet: http://www.ice.cat/personal/iribas/Proxima_b/ __________________ Stay shook. No sook.

26th August 2016, 20:00	#118
crocos	Science: Turning one greenhouse gas into a stronger greenhouse gas since ages! But real - that's pretty sweet. __________________ Ξ √ Ω L U T ↑ ☼ N وكل يوم كنت تعيش في العبودية

12th December 2016, 01:01	#120
Ab A mariachi ogre snorkel	saw that earlier and I've been "not getting excited not getting excited" all day 🤘🏼