The Physics That Makes Interstellar Travel IMPOSSIBLE ...

[BusyLittleShop]

I think Richard Feynman makes a convincing case how physics limits space travel for Earthlings seeking Aliens and also Aliens seeking Earthlings...

Media Link removed. AI content.

 

[Snagglefoot]

We hadn’t invented the first television broadcast until 1936 and by 1945 we had already dropped the first atomic bomb. Today nuclear weapons possessing countries are issuing threats to each other. How is a civilization supposed to get the timing right such that both are in existence long enough to intercept each other’s communications ?

 

[dubber09]

His assumptions are based on current humans knowledge and tech.
There is allegedly a craft in Korea something like 40 feet in outside diameter but a size of a football field when you step inside, and time flows very differently inside the craft, 2 mins inside is over an hour outside the craft.
We may not understand or replicate that advanced tech yet but we may in the future.

 

[Arc]

His assumptions are based on current humans knowledge and tech.
There is allegedly a craft in Korea something like 40 feet in outside diameter but a size of a football field when you step inside, and time flows very differently inside the craft, 2 mins inside is over an hour outside the craft.
We may not understand or replicate that advanced tech yet but we may in the future.

What?????

 

[Arc]

When I was young I spent a lot of time looking up into the nighttime sky thinking about those same issues. Of course back in the 60's you could still see the stars. Now I'm more concerned with the pole shift. 30 years ago when I bought this house I didn't have to use a compass to align my telescope to magnetic north because I knew exactly where it was. Now it has moved and continues to move a lot just in 30 years.

 

[Arc]

Good video

 

[Mainia]

Says the AI video guy who does not exist.

 

[buster]

Worm holes/bend space time.

 

[doitmyself]

When I was young I spent a lot of time looking up into the nighttime sky thinking about those same issues. Of course back in the 60's you could still see the stars. Now I'm more concerned with the pole shift. 30 years ago when I bought this house I didn't have to use a compass to align my telescope to magnetic north because I knew exactly where it was. Now it has moved and continues to move a lot just in 30 years.

The pole moving and magnetic declination change has been going on for many years. I view it as "natural". Look it up.

https://www.arcgis.com/home/item.html?id=d38f95bd712547b4b607435ccfbadfc9

 

[Snagglefoot]

Yes, worthwhile video. But let’s hear a rebuttal from the “ Men in Black”.

 

[Pablo]

His assumptions are based on current humans knowledge and tech.
There is allegedly a craft in Korea something like 40 feet in outside diameter but a size of a football field when you step inside, and time flows very differently inside the craft, 2 mins inside is over an hour outside the craft.
We may not understand or replicate that advanced tech yet but we may in the future.

LINK???

 

[AdmiralYoda]

With our current understanding of physics it makes interstellar travel DIFFICULT...not impossible. Current science fiction based faster than light travel using warp-drives or the like are based in (highly theoretical) relativistic physics but require an understanding and implementation that is way beyond us, if at all even possible.

Nuclear fission based (thermal/electric) propulsion is currently feasible, though still requires additional improvements and development. Project KIWI/NERVA from the 60's/70's proved that it works. This applies more to improved travel times within our own solar system, not really to traveling to our neighbors. Current systems are being designed to get us to Mars in weeks, not months.

Nuclear fusion travel will get us to our nearest stars, though not as fast as on a sci-fi TV. On a smaller scale (and slightly more practical), shows like "The Expanse" make good use of nuclear fusion propulsion to provide reasonable travel times within our own solar system.

Movies like "Avatar" and "The Passengers" also provide somewhat realistic interpretation of nuclear fusion travel on the interstellar scale though the scale and use of the technology involved is enormous in these movies, but is theoretically achievable with our current understanding and implementation of physics. Think 15+ years or decades to travel to our nearest neighbors, not minutes.

Achieving the speeds that allow for even slowest reasonable forms of human interstellar travel comes with a whole host of other problems. Directly hitting a microscopic dust particle at 25% or higher the speed of light can not be a possibility.

Some version of artificial gravity is required, be it artificial gravity like we see on TV or a centrifugal version. We will need some method of induced hibernation as well. Time dilation will also become an issue with further distances.

Communication back home will also be a significant problem. If we parked ourselves in orbit of our nearest neighbor, Alpha Centauri, and sent a message back home it would take ~4.5 years for the message to be received..... and another ~4.5 years to receive a response. You are essentially on your own with no help from home.

 

[Trav]

Danger, danger Will Robinson.

 

[Pablo]

With our current understanding of physics it makes interstellar travel DIFFICULT...not impossible. Current science fiction......

Forum name checks out...............

 

[I<3oil]

His assumptions are based on current humans knowledge and tech.
There is allegedly a craft in Korea something like 40 feet in outside diameter but a size of a football field when you step inside, and time flows very differently inside the craft, 2 mins inside is over an hour outside the craft.
We may not understand or replicate that advanced tech yet but we may in the future.

lol

 

[2005jettatdi]

Worm holes/bend space time.

Travel at the speed of light is impossible. Therefore science fiction has to go around the problem with warp drive, hyperdrive, star gates, etc.

 

[BHopkins]

Good video

Yeah, up to the point where a world famous physicist, who died just shy of 38 years ago, tells me to "hit that like button".

I believe Dr. Feynman was amazingly intelligent, but I doubt he was prophetic enough to anticipate the "like" button before his death, almost 20 years before YouTube was created.

Were the AI creators of this video true to what Dr. Feynman said, except for the little Youtube bit? Or did they take other liberties? It makes me doubt the value of the whole video.

 

[Cheetah-kins]

I personally think speed of light and FTL travel will never be achieved, I think it's simply never going to be within humankind's technological ability. And with the VAST (understatement of the year) distances separating everything, we will never go significantly beyond our solar system. I firmly believe this.

However, one idea I like to sometimes contemplate is: what if every developed country in the world pooled ALL its resources - all military, all science, all monetary and material resources - and had 20 years to come up with the best, most capable and self contained, farthest reaching spacecraft possible with a crew of say 20, and large enough to have living quarters, labs, and group facilities - like a large yacht, what could be achieved? Forgetting all politics and many other reasons this would never happen, just everyone agrees to combine the entire world's resources to build the best spacecraft possible, what would we (humankind) have exactly?

 

[PWMDMD]

RF is my boy! One of the greatest minds to ever live!

 

[JohnnyG]

When I was young I spent a lot of time looking up into the nighttime sky thinking about those same issues. Of course back in the 60's you could still see the stars. Now I'm more concerned with the pole shift. 30 years ago when I bought this house I didn't have to use a compass to align my telescope to magnetic north because I knew exactly where it was. Now it has moved and continues to move a lot just in 30 years.

Why would you align a telescope to magnetic north? That's not even close to polar alignment. Or does the computer controller take over from there?
OTOH, Maybe it's just good enough for casual observing though.