Distance, Shields and Life in Space

[SpaceFan]

Hey,

I am very interested in space related stuff and also for all the things that are being developed and if there is anything new there, then I read it immediately but in have a few questions.

Well, i've read so much that many projects have been deactivated and that also currently the financing of such projects is a problem. But I also do not know if it is a good idea, because we do not have a huge knowledge.

So, here are my questions:
1. Will there ever be possible to fly with an approximate speed of light or is it not (even) possible? And there are many people who think that worm holes or something like that also provides a quick trip.
As far as I know, it's even a faster way then the speed of light but the time outside of the moving object is going over faster and if it would be a really huge distance everything outside the ship would have changed.

2. Will there maybe also be something like shields later, so something that keeps the ship from taking damage? This is supposed to be a disadvantage of the speed of light, because the pressure then really would be quite high and would probably also crush the ship.

3. As far as I know, Earth-like candidate has also been found, or planets that may have an atmosphere and that would allow our lives for the people or in general but these are indeed all outside of our solar system, so what are the prospects, possibly eventually land on such a planet?

4.Someday life will no longer be possible on earth, I have heard that this is probably caused by the Andromeda Galaxy, which pulls in the direction of our system but why is life on earth then extinguished?
The next thing then would probably be the sun, which would destroy our whole system, when our sun is coming to an end and thus explodes, but when will these things happen?

5 Well, as far as I know the human is not really suitable for life in the universe but why is it like that?
How long could a human survive in the space if he has food, O2, water and all the other stuff he would need?

Last but not least I would like to know which companies are still really want to do something in the universe or in the space and i'm seraching for a good website or an magazine, where i could find some new stuff that is being researched or some new things that have been found and what is currently being researched. (space related)

Thanks in advance for all the answers and I'm hoping for answers, I know it's a lot but this are really some things that i'm really interested in.

[Endy0816]

Hey,

 

I am very interested in space related stuff and also for all the things that are being developed and if there is anything new there, then I read it immediately but in have a few questions.

 

Well, i've read so much that many projects have been deactivated and that also currently the financing of such projects is a problem. But I also do not know if it is a good idea, because we do not have a huge knowledge.

 

So, here are my questions:

1. Will there ever be possible to fly with an approximate speed of light or is it not (even) possible? And there are many people who think that worm holes or something like that also provides a quick trip.

As far as I know, it's even a faster way then the speed of light but the time outside of the moving object is going over faster and if it would be a really huge distance everything outside the ship would have changed.

 

2. Will there maybe also be something like shields later, so something that keeps the ship from taking damage? This is supposed to be a disadvantage of the speed of light, because the pressure then really would be quite high and would probably also crush the ship.

 

3. As far as I know, Earth-like candidate has also been found, or planets that may have an atmosphere and that would allow our lives for the people or in general but these are indeed all outside of our solar system, so what are the prospects, possibly eventually land on such a planet?

 

4.Someday life will no longer be possible on earth, I have heard that this is probably caused by the Andromeda Galaxy, which pulls in the direction of our system but why is life on earth then extinguished?

The next thing then would probably be the sun, which would destroy our whole system, when our sun is coming to an end and thus explodes, but when will these things happen?

 

5 Well, as far as I know the human is not really suitable for life in the universe but why is it like that?

How long could a human survive in the space if he has food, O2, water and all the other stuff he would need?

 

Last but not least I would like to know which companies are still really want to do something in the universe or in the space and i'm seraching for a good website or an magazine, where i could find some new stuff that is being researched or some new things that have been found and what is currently being researched. (space related)

 

Thanks in advance for all the answers and I'm hoping for answers, I know it's a lot but this are really some things that i'm really interested in.

 

1) Can't travel at c and have mass, even getting close is costly.

 

2) Anything you hit going fast, is the equivalent of something very fast hitting you. Something the size of a pebble could do massive damage. Most realistic thing I've read about would be a self repairing vessel, with "crew" functionally "backed up".

 

3) We don't know anything exact about conditions on other planets outside our own solar system.

 

4) The two galaxies will collide. What this means for Earth and the solar system in general is uncertain. Will likely be climatic to some degree though.

 

The Sun in contrast is simply going to expand as it enters into its red giant phase. It lacks the energy to actually explode. Realistically we just need to get enough distance from it and we'll be fine, though Earth itself is likely to be swallowed by the Sun or the closest planet to the Sun.

 

5) Indefinitely. The whole planet is "in space".

 

Radiation in space is the biggest threat. Second is simply the lack of resources and/or the need to recreate the environmental conditions we generally take for granted on Earth. Generally much of the planet contributes a huge amount to our daily needs. Consider manufacturing everything from the air you breathe, to the food you eat, to the water you drink. Now consider doing this with only the most basic resources.

 

If you are talking about general problems then main one is that the muscles weaken. A problem as the heart is one such muscle and many humans eventually want to return to a higher gravity location.

 

You may want to look at the Mars Society site. That one has quite a bit of accessible knowledge.

[BearOfNH]

Last but not least I would like to know which companies are still really want to do something in the universe or in the space and i'm seraching for a good website or an magazine, where i could find some new stuff that is being researched or some new things that have been found and what is currently being researched. (space related)

 

Moon Express (http://www.npr.org/blogs/thetwo-way/2013/12/07/249503187/is-mining-on-the-moons-horizon, for example) is one company trying to exploit the huge deposits of ³He on the lunar surface. At about $100K/oz it's certainly valuable enough to try to mine on the moon and ship back to earth.

 

[Enthalpy]

1. "Ever possible", I try to avoid answering this. In a foreseeable future, the answer is no.

 

2. Shields against impacts? I don't worry about impacts, as they're so scarce. Probes flew through Saturn's rings and nothing happened.

 

3. Earth-like is a hype. We have a notion of their size, their distance to their star. No information about temperature, composition, atmosphere if any, presence of water, and so on. Land on them: too far away, not in any foreseeable future.

 

3b. We should first check Europa, Encelade and other moons in our Solar system. These are accessible to our space probes, in some future maybe to humans, and the conditions for (non-human) life may be not too bad there.

 

3c. Making Mars habitable for humans could be easier than going to an other star.

 

4. Andromeda? Other reasons? Who cares. We ignore completely what technology will be in such a future, nor if humans still exist, and they would have evolved so much and be so different from us that I feel no need to care.

 

5. In a spaceship? Still unknown. Radiations would kill them within few decades with present shields.

 

5b. Few humans would die of loneliness rather quickly. A group of two-sex animals needs >200 individuals to be genetically viable, in case you want to export the species. A single species does not make a viable biotope; we fully ignore how many are neeed. But then, why export the human species, especially if it gets extinct on Earth?