Lifeboat Foundation: Safeguarding Humanity
Toggle light / dark theme

Blog

Category: space travel – Page 508

Is mankind capable of achieving warp speed?

Tweet at us! @pbsspacetime
Facebook: facebook.com/pbsspacetime
Email us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] com.

Comment on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/pbsspacetime

Inspired by Gene Roddenberry’s Star Trek, physicist Miguel Alcubierre set out to transform one of the cornerstones of science fiction iconography, the Warp Drive, into reality. But is it even possible? Can we “warp” the fabric of reality so that we can break the speed of light? And why is NASA actually exploring this potentiality? Join Matt on this week’s episode to learn the physics of what’s physically possible!

“What Happens At The Edge of the Universe”:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=AwwIFcdUFrE

—————————————- ­­­——–

Read more

In a study published today in the Astrophysical Journal Letters, scientists from the University of New Hampshire and colleagues answer the question of why NASA’s Voyager 1, when it became the first probe to enter interstellar space in mid-2012, observed a magnetic field that was inconsistent with that derived from other spacecraft observations.

Voyager 1 sent back several different indications that it had punched through the edge of our sun’s massive protective bubble inflated by solar wind—the heliosphere—after a 35-year journey. But the magnetic field data gathered by the spacecraft was not what scientists had expected to see. The UNH-led study resolves the inconsistencies.

“There are still naysayers out there regarding Voyager 1 crossing through the heliopause—the edge of the heliosphere,” says astrophysicist Nathan Schwadron of the UNH Institute for the Study of Earth, Oceans, and Space and department of physics and lead author of the paper. “And the reason for this doubt is that when the spacecraft supposedly broke through the heliopause we should have seen some sort of distinctive shift in the magnetic field from one medium to the other,” Schwadron says.

Read more

The novel its a bit older, but it‘s an incredible vision!

When Star Trek’s Scotty warns the Captain that the engines can’t “take it”, he might just be best off switching fuel — a new book claims that humanity could reach the stars using vast spacecraft harnessing the energy of black holes with the power to “eat planets”.

Inside would be an artificial black hole — created by spheres of generators firing “gravitons”- and, claims author Dr Roger Hoskins, Fellow of the Royal Astronomical Society, would curve space-time — and would be “faster than anti matter drives.”

Captain Kirk would be jealous of the speeds offered by a black hole powered craft — which displaces or curves space time, like a warp drive, thus appearing to go faster than light.

Read more

The Russian Federal Space Agency — commonly referred to as Roscosmos — just announced its plans to send humans to the Moon in 2029, RT News reported. It’s part of the agency’s ultimate goal of creating and maintaining a lunar station. Vladimir Solntsev, head of Roscomsos Energia, made the announcement Tuesday at a space and technology conference in Moscow; he noted that they are currently building the spacecraft for the mission now, with its first flight into space planned for 2021.

After its initial flight, the plan is to have the spacecraft dock with the International Space Station in 2023, according to Solntsev. Then in 2025, Roscosmos will send an uncrewed version of the spacecraft to the Moon, before finally sending astronauts in the vehicle in 2029.

It also looks like the European Space Agency may be along for the ride. Two weeks ago, BBC News reported that the ESA had been in talks with Roscosmos to collaborate on sending a lander to the Moon’s south pole. The mission, called Luna 27, would be the first in a series of missions that would eventually return humans to the lunar surface. “We have an ambition to have European astronauts on the Moon. There are currently discussions at international level going on for broad cooperation on how to go back to the Moon,” Bérengère Houdou, head of lunar exploration at ESA, told BBC News.

Read more

A Hall thruster is powering many of the satellites moving around Earth right now. It needs 100 million (yes, you read that right, 100 million) times less fuel than chemical thrusters. But it was never remotely sturdy enough to get anything to Mars—until now.

Typical chemical thrusters are pretty simple. Fuel combusts, gases shoot one way, and a rocket shoots the other way.

Ion thrusters are a little different. They contain charged electrodes, an anode and a cathode, and allow positively charged ions to shoot from the anode to the cathode. Thanks to momentum, the ions will “overshoot” the cathode. Under regular circumstances they’d be sucked back, but once they’ve cleared the cathode, they’re hit by a beam of electrons, neutralizing them and allowing them to go on their way without interference from the charged cathode. So the neutralized atoms shoot one way, and the rocket shoots another.

Read more

Tweet at us! @pbsspacetime.
Facebook: facebook.com/pbsspacetime
Email us! pbsspacetime [at] gmail [dot] com.

Comment on Reddit: http://www.reddit.com/r/pbsspacetime

The prospect of interstellar travel is no longer sci-fi. It COULD be achievable within our lifetime! But, how would an interstellar rocket-ship work? On this week’s episode of Space Time, Matt talks options for interstellar travel — from traditional rocket fuel to antimatter drives, could we travel to other star systems? Watch this episode of Space Time to find out!

“Quantum Entanglement & Spooky Action at a Distance”:

Continue reading “5 REAL Possibilities for Interstellar Travel | Space Time | PBS Digital Studios” | >

PBS space time reviews interstellar travel options.

They reviewed
* the Orion pulsed nuclear drive.

* Nuclear fusion drives.

* antimatter (pion drives)

* laser light sails.

* blackhole drive (schwarzschild kugelblitz)
Blackhole made by light.
The sweet spot is 600 billion kg in the size of a proton.

Read more