The weekend and I will jump off my high political horse and come down to earth for a couple of days….
If you are an old fart like me then you will remember the words “To boldly go where no man has gone”…..or “space the final frontier”…..or maybe “life here started out there”……that is right the great scifi from days past…..
We are preparing for a trip to Mars…..there is lots of research going on about how to get there and what to do while there and then the trip back….all in all it is said to be a 1 to 1and half year trip, round trip……
Is it possible that the time constraints could be overcome?
Uh-huh…at least so says one scientist……
A century ago, the first transatlantic flight took about 23 days. Soon, we could reach Mars in about as long. The key: perfecting laser technology. NASA scientist Philip Lubin says that by swapping out the current fuel-based rocket propulsion system with one relying on photons would significantly boost our space travel speeds, reports Reuters. Science Alert explains it like this: Particles of light from lasers in Earth’s orbit would reflect off a “large, reflective sail” on a spacecraft and produce a thrust capable of sending it toward a destination at insane speeds. Lubin estimates a 220-pound probe could reach Mars in as little as 72 hours, reports Wired. A bigger, manned spacecraft would take about a month; experts believe the Space Launch System currently in development could take humans to Mars in about five months.
If all that isn’t intriguing enough, Lubin says “photonic propulsion” opens up the possibility of travel outside our solar system, per Space.com. “The human factor of exploring the nearest stars and exoplanets would be a profound voyage for humanity, one whose non-scientific implications would be enormous,” Lubin writes in a study. “There are recent advances that take this from science fiction to science reality,” he adds in a YouTube video. “There is no known reason why we cannot do this.” (NASA says there will be humans on Mars by the 2030s.)
So why not…..Boldly Go?
Now for something extra……
Since early childhood I have been a Formula One fan….especially Ferrari teams……now that is racing!
It is March and next month the F1 season will start…..below is the schedule of races……
THE PROPOSED 2016 F1 CALENDARApril 3 — Australia (Albert Park)April 10 — China (Shanghai)April 24 — Bahrain (Sakhir)May 1 — Russia (Sochi)May 15 — Spain (Barcelona)May 29 — Monaco (Monte Carlo)June 12 — Canada (Montreal)June 26 — Britain (Silverstone)July 3 — Austria (Red Bull Ring)July 17 — Europe (Baku)July 31 — Germany (Hockenheim)August 7 — Hungary (Hungaroring)August 28 — Belgium (Spa)September 4 — Italy (Monza)September 18 — Singapore (Marina Bay)September 25 — Malaysia (Sepang)October 9 — Japan (Suzuka)October 23 — USA (Austin)October 30 — Mexico (Mexico City)November 13 — Brazil (Interlagos)November 27 — Abu Dhabi (Yas Marina)
This is racing at its finest……
Enjoy your weekend……
Light sail technology has been under development for a long time, on paper, so, it isn’t surprising a new method has been worked out that would improve on rockets… Ultimately, it may be the best way to go, as there is no shortage of photons anywhere in the universe…., plus, with lasers, we can make our own, to provide the necessary impetus.
That said, I can only hope it happens SOON…. As a boy of 11, I made a vow, to die on another planet… I don’t have much time left to fulfill my vow, but, I haven’t given up on it…. If they do offer emigration to Mars in the near enough future, I’ll be on the first ship…. There’s still a lot of the Universe to see out there…
gigoid
I already have a passenger number as soon as I find the paperwork I will give you the number….chuq
I’ll take it…. though, if I were you, I’d use it meself…
😉
“Life here started out there”….Was that from the original Battlestar Galactica? That was a pretty groovy show. It was like a friggin’ space-disco! (Major props to Lorne Greene, Canada’s “Voice of Doom” and inventor of the Greene Card.)
And speaking of the speeding up of space travel, I used to watch the show Babylon 5. It was kind of a “United Nations in space” show. I recall that they would occasionally come across ships of people that left Earth as space travel “pioneers”. They were put in cyro-sleep and arrived in deep space only to find people waiting for them who were born hundreds of years after their ship left. Because during that time, space travel got dramatically faster. (aka Warp speed vs sub-light speed)
Hilarious culture shock ensured. Kind of like a ship full of Republicans.
I liked B5 myself…..Battlestar was a good show….but I liked the remake better….not as hokey….
Unless you hate sci-fi, which apparently you don’t, how could you NOT like Babylon 5? It was international relations…..in spaaaaaaaayyyyyyyyyyce!!! And the Israel-Palestine thing was routinely discussed in the classic sci-fi method of “We can’t say this out loud. But we if we give them rubber suits and funny hair and say they’re from another planet, we can get away with it.”
I loved both Battlestars, but I definitely like the original Cylons better. CGI doesn’t scare me, it irritates me. The men in the tin suits were somehow creepier and made for more realistic battles.
I like the way they handle space battles and such in the later one….and they finally got to that shining marble they were looking for…..
Odama’s “Never trust a networked computer” was arguably the most important line of the entire (new) show. And you saw the results. The second the Cylons mobilized, their civilization was over. This is a lesson a lot more people should learn. Because it’s probably in our not-too-distant future too.
I’m following Odama’s wisdom. I myself do not trust ANYTHING hooked up to the Web-pipes. The computer I type this on has absolutely nothing of value on it, nor anything that could personally identify me.
You just can’t trust those fracking robots!
I also am a suspicious person…there is nothing on my machines either…..I type and I read and that is about it….chuq