Tekforums
Chat => General Discussion => Topic started by: Mongoose on October 01, 2010, 16:46:04 PM
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check this out
http://news.discovery.com/space/earth-like-planet-life.html
and its only 20LY way, even if we never crack FTL travel that seems close enough that some sort of Ion drive powered ship might get there one day.
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Carrots!
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20LY distance would take at least 40 years to get to, more probably 80 years or more.
Its still a breakthrough even though this planet is estimated as several times the size of the earth.
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20LY distance would take at least 40 years to get to, more probably 80 years or more.
It would be a long term mission on a scale not yet seen certainly, and I dont think we could do it right now, but its not inconceivable that we could at least send a robotic probe at some future point. Yes, youre looking at ~50-100 years to get there and 20 years for the signal to get back, but in the grand scheme of things thats not THAT long.
TBH though the most significant thing for me is that theyve basically only just started looking seriously for earth sized rocky planets in the habitable zone. To find one this quickly is either the biggest stroke of luck ever or indicates that there are an awful lot of them just waiting to be found.
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Were gonna need a bigger boat someday...
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TBH though the most significant thing for me is that theyve basically only just started looking seriously for earth sized rocky planets in the habitable zone. To find one this quickly is either the biggest stroke of luck ever or indicates that there are an awful lot of them just waiting to be found.
Most of the problem is effort and cost. It would take an awful lot to send a probe there. Signals over that sort of distance would also be an issue. First they need to sort out some new form of propulsion and then send the ship. While there are several possible options theres none we have proven for inter-system travel. By the time you get there the probability is they will have much better telescopes than we do now, which may make the probe entirely redundant. Improvements in propulsion will also be made which could mean a later probe overtaking the earlier one en-route!
I would agree, there probably are an awful lot of earth sized planets out there waiting to be found, the problem is finding ones in the goldilocks zone of a sun similar to ours and earth sized. There are probably billions of them out there.
A completely different issue is will it be worth landing on one? The natural life may be completely incompatible with ours.
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http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Non-Stop
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Pandorum
IT COULD HAPPEN!
:P
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I dont think were all about to go jump on a ship and head out there, but the fact that there are planets close enough which are probably inhabitable that we could even consider it is what excites me.
All the previous exo-planets found have been Jupiter+ sized, insanely close to the parent star or both.
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I dont think were all about to go jump on a ship and head out there, but the fact that there are planets close enough which are probably inhabitable that we could even consider it is what excites me.
All the previous exo-planets found have been Jupiter+ sized, insanely close to the parent star or both.
if you believe the nuts, there about 14 alien species within 20 light years
serpo.org
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I dont think were all about to go jump on a ship and head out there, but the fact that there are planets close enough which are probably inhabitable that we could even consider it is what excites me.
All the previous exo-planets found have been Jupiter+ sized, insanely close to the parent star or both.
if you believe the nuts, there about 14 alien species within 20 light years
serpo.org
OMFG!!! we 1z all d00m3dz0r!!!!11eleven! quick! run for the hills!!
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Theres probably a species on that planet looking this way thinking the same thing
[/fantasy]
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TBH though the most significant thing for me is that theyve basically only just started looking seriously for earth sized rocky planets in the habitable zone. To find one this quickly is either the biggest stroke of luck ever or indicates that there are an awful lot of them just waiting to be found.
A completely different issue is will it be worth landing on one? The natural life may be completely incompatible with ours.
Prion-based diseases you think? One potentially life-bearing, but could be populated with moderately evolved thermophiles.
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http://blogs.discovermagazine.com/discoblog/2010/10/04/so-how-long-would-it-take-to-travel-to-that-exciting-new-exoplanet/
with current tech apparently its a 180,000 year trip. Perhaps we wont book the holiday there just yet!
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As much as I would love to put faith in humanity as a whole, I get the feeling we will have destroyed ourselves long before we get to the technological level required to explore and expland across the universe in reasonable amounts of time, which I do believe would be possible some day. If this is it, well its not much to look forward to for the future of life, is it really? Especially when you consider that one day were likely to face an ELE anyway.
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http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/travelinginspace/future_propulsion.html
Id sign up for cryogenically freezing and sent there if it was under 100 years... 200 year round trip and youd have a lot of money in interest (if the banking system didnt go into melt down while youre away)
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Yeah, I hope VASIMR gets more funding. Ion drives! 8-)
Id sign up for cryogenically freezing...
(http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/856/292pxkhannooniensingh22.jpg)
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Yeah, I hope VASIMR gets more funding. Ion drives! 8-)
Id sign up for cryogenically freezing...
(http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/856/292pxkhannooniensingh22.jpg)
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
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Yeah, I hope VASIMR gets more funding. Ion drives! 8-)
Id sign up for cryogenically freezing...
(http://img63.imageshack.us/img63/856/292pxkhannooniensingh22.jpg)
KHAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAAN!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!11
/me gets my ears blocked up
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http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/10/recently-discovered-habitable-world.html
mmm looks like it might be a good thing we didnt all jump on a space ship after all :(
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http://news.sciencemag.org/sciencenow/2010/10/recently-discovered-habitable-world.html
mmm looks like it might be a good thing we didnt all jump on a space ship after all :(
Especially with that hairdo. I guess he should have listened to spock on that and avoided Kirks cheapo salon :heehaw:
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As much as I would love to put faith in humanity as a whole, I get the feeling we will have destroyed ourselves long before we get to the technological level required to explore and expland across the universe in reasonable amounts of time, which I do believe would be possible some day. If this is it, well its not much to look forward to for the future of life, is it really? Especially when you consider that one day were likely to face an ELE anyway.
Humanity cant even cap the population, breed breed breed will surely end up being our demise one way or another as war over land/resources intensifies, or maybe this kind of war will create the tech needed?
The sky was super clear on Saturday night, I was looking into the sky for a good 10 minutes, inspirational but I dont rate humanities chances, but hey everyone loves an underdog :cheers: