Interstellar Travel and the Fermi Paradox CA LEB
Interstellar Travel and the Fermi Paradox CA LEB BROWN ASTR 100
Current Challenges • Distance • Speed • Energy Required Figure 1: Energy
Distance • Alpha Centauri System • The star system closest to ours • 3. 37 light years away, or 70, 000 times the distance to Jupiter • We’ll use this as an example, but of course every other star system is farther Figure 2: Alpha Centauri
Speed • According to Einstein's Theory of Relativity, we are bound by the speed of light • Helios 2 was the fastest man-made object ever • Reached a speed of 157, 078 mph • About 1/5000 the speed of light • Not made to go very far • Would take 20, 000 years to reach Alpha Centauri Figure 3: Helios 2 Spacecraft
Energy •
Building the Right Spacecraft Figure 4: The Millennium Falcon Figure 5: The SS Enterprise
Powering it with Conventional Technology that is available or within reach • Figure 6: Nuclear Power Plant
Powering it with Conventional Technology (cont. ) • Solar Sails • Sails pushed by photons • Would be very light • Don’t work as well after we leave the Solar System • Lasers • Would push sails or vaporize propellant Figure 7: Solar Sails • Would have to be powered by earth • Uses lots of Power
Arks Another Idea is to have (relatively slow) “arks” carrying large amounts of people, and simply let the journeys take decades or centuries. Three hypothesized ways to do this: • Hibernation • Put the humans to sleep for hundreds of years • We don’t know how to do this • Make humans who live longer • Slow the aging process • We don’t know how to do this either • Allow many generations to be born on Journey • Let entire generations live their lives on the ship • New generations might not know the required technical skills Figure 8: An Interstellar Ark
Time Dilation and the Theory of Relativity Table 1: Round Trip Time to Vega, 25 light years away
Unconventional Approaches
Hyperspace and Wormholes Figure 9: Space and Hyperspace
The Fermi Paradox 1. The Idea that neither we nor our planet is in any way special suggests that someone should have colonized the galaxy by now 2. The idea of a galactic civilization implies that we should be surrounded by evidence of this civilization-but aside from unconvincing claims of extraterrestrial UFO’s, no such evidence exists Figure 10: Are we alone?
Possible Solutions • We are alone • Civilizations are common, but no one has colonized the galaxy • They don’t know how • They don’t want to • They’ve destroyed themselves • There is a galactic civilization, but they have deliberately avoided us
Questions: 1. What do you think is the best technology to pursue for interstellar travel? 2. What is your proposed solution to the Fermi Paradox?
Biblography Figures: 1. https: //d 32 r 1 sh 890 xpii. cloudfront. net/article/718 x 300/a 750861 ccac 3 dc 80 e 7543977280 c 54 bb. jpg 2. https: //www. nasa. gov/mission_pages/chandra/images/alpha-centauri-a-triple-star-system-about-4 -light-years-from-earth. html 3. https: //solarsystem. nasa. gov/missions/helios-2/in-depth/ 4. https: //www. starwars. com/databank/millennium-falcon 5. https: //memory-beta. fandom. com/wiki/Enterprise_(NX-01) 6. https: //www. greenbiz. com/article/nuclear-industry-making-big-bet-small-power-plants 7. https: //www. planetary. org/explore/projects/lightsail-solar-sailing/what-is-solar-sailing. html 8. https: //i. stack. imgur. com/SAWl. K. jpg 9. http: //www. astro. umass. edu/~myun/teaching/a 100_old/longlecture 17. html 10. https: //www. google. com/url? sa=i&url=https%3 A%2 F%2 Ftheconversation. com%2 Fwhat-the-joyous-solitude-of-early-hermits-can-teach-us-about-being-alone 90804&psig=AOv. Vaw 3 AUma. UK 9 lcj 0 h 4 hj. PFbi. N 9&ust=1587659485111000&source=images&cd=vfe&ved=0 CAIQj. Rxq. Fwo. TCLC 06 KG-_Og. CFQAAAAAd. AAAAABAD Table 1: Life in the Universe, Stark, Table 13. 1 Videos: Time Dilation – Einstein’s Theory of Relativity Explained!, https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=yu. D 34 t. Ep. RFw 5 REAL Possibilities for Interstellar Travel, https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=Ez. ZGPCyrp. SU Hyperspace explained in under two minutes, https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=k. RWZ 5 hp. Sbew The Alcubierre Warp Field and Anti Matter [2020], https: //www. youtube. com/watch? v=g. HAao. TMrc 3 A
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