Are we capable of moving to a different planet?

Nightmage82

Nightmage82

1,494
I just saw a program that highlighted an interesting, even if a rather far off point. The sun will not be around forever, the will eventually engulf our planet and totally vaporize it. If by some magical stroke of luck humanity and or the earth have not been destroyed by then by a huge asteroid or comet of some sort, im fairly sure the people here are likely to want to move. Even if it won't be us im sure it will be our great great great etc nephews and daughters and things... so it should at least make us curious.

the program also explained ways of colonizing planets such as mars by warming them up with greenhouse gasses and then getting algae to grow and produce water + oxygen.

since the sun dieing 3 million years from now is rather far off to be thinking about, what if we imagined a scenario that scientists have actually forecast for our lifetimes. i can't remember the exact year but its something like 2043, a large asteroid is on a collision course with earth and thats the year its destined to hit us.

if it turned out that converting a planet such as mars to be entirely habitable took 5 years, do people think it would be possible to get everyone there in time? what kind of ships would we need? would we leave people in 3rd world countries such as afghanistan behind? would anyone get priority? are we able to overcome our social differences to get together and embark on such a project? if both planets were destroyed how long do you think it would be before we could move as many people as possible to a permanent life in space, and how many people would we be able to sustain in colonies?

loads of interesting questions, pick some or any of them and let me know what u think! :D

personally i think we aren't ready for anything of that scale yet, both technologically and socially. with no amazing breakthroughs like the discovery of electricity in the future i can't see us being able to do something like that for the next 200 years at least. we can only hope therefore that the asteroid will miss us ;). even once technology has caught up lets hope that we are ready for a social project of such a scale. because that task will be of equal difficulty to the technological one.
 
we probaly can move to a diffrent planet, but it would take a long time, and if it wasnt like earth weed need some way to make oxygen and food
 
My senior chemistry teacher, Mr. Hartman, told us one time that 2 billion years from now, anything within the asteroid belt will be hurled into the sun...


I dunno...Just a thought.:P

So we could be movin out pretty soon...Or that asteroid thats planning to hit us on March 21, 2014. Speaking of which i got to mark it in big letters "DOOMSDAY".:lol:
 
We don't have the technology at the moment to create a self-sufficient environment suitable to human life that would last more than 5 years. I think that once the age of space exploration begins that we will have 1 or 2 sucessful colonies to start with (and our fair share of roanokes). So, the answer is not yet (even though they are experimenting with portable biodomes in the Antarctic, we still have nothing that can last for more than a year)
 
Not a planet, but if we are leaving Earth, it is not to go to another planet. Right now, scientists are thinking of the possibility to move to "Europa". Not the continent but "Europa" one of Jupiter's moon. Astronomical research shows that Europa has the conditions required for us humans to survive. Of course, we would need to fix some things.
 
Originally posted by xAkirax2004

So we could be movin out pretty soon...Or that asteroid thats planning to hit us on March 21, 2014. Speaking of which i got to mark it in big letters "DOOMSDAY".:lol:
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hmm i had a though, who has studied the mayans and knows the date in which the mayans have written down to be end of the world? it was like 2012-14ish. very similar to the date that astroid could hit us. I dunno just a thought cuase i studied the mayans last year.
 
You know how far we came in 40 years? There was no internet, computers, and we barely started exploring space even further. Just think 40 years from now, the internet might be dead, TV's might be dead, hell I dunno. But just think..... I heard that NASA is gonna start setting up space stations on the Moon and Mars for rockets to refuel, etc (I don't remember what year though). But I'm sure there will be a HUGE technology leap within the next 40-50 years. :)
 
You could be right F1.

Although, id like to think about 2.5 to 3 billion years ago, their was a civilazation FAR more advanced than us. like anywhere between 100 years and 1,500 years advanced than us. about 2.1 billion years ago, that was wiped out by something (asteroid, explosion etc.) and then the "re-evolution" happened and we are yet to be as advanced as they were at one time.


I sound like a geek, dont I?:P

Any thoughts on this?
 
So there were teleporters? :P If I was hungry, would I say "Hey gimme some goddamn pizza" and it would appear in front of me? lol I'm just fooling around, I dont think that there was anything like that that long ago. :P
 
Originally posted by F1man
So there were teleporters? :P If I was hungry, would I say "Hey gimme some goddamn pizza" and it would appear in front of me? lol I'm just fooling around, I dont think that there was anything like that that long ago. :P
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then i'd be laughing at you while watching you on jerry springer or maury for being 900 lbs
 
we can easily go to mars temporarily...it's just that the ppl in nasa are stupid, paranoid, pricks....astronauts are supposed to take on dangerous missions. i'm not sayin they're expendable, but currently, the space program has made absolutely no progress. they're only going back and back and back. we went to the moon in the damn 1960's using computers weaker than most calculators...and they're sayin it isn't possible to go to mars? the cheap, paranoid, liars
 
Atilla the Mayans said that the earth would end ~ 2012 May ish....

I have an idea!!!

Why don't we take all those ricer's bottles of Nitrous Oxide.... Use them at Mars? It would be far more effective... *Nitrous Oxide releases LOADS of oxygen doesn't it?*?
 
not sure about the mayans. im sceptical about any ancient cultures being more advanced than us.

as for europa, if you were to go there without a space suit ud probably die within seconds. however scientists suspect that the entire planet is covered in frozen water, if this were the case we may be able to live in ice caves or something on there... like at the start of star wars episode 5 or smthg :P

i too think the US is spending TOO much money on defence and should put it all towards to get us exploring space. we wouldn't have to invade iraq or places like that, we could just ion cannon their asses... FROM MARS! :D bwahahahaha... yup anyway... ;P

EDIT: oh yeah and lets send all the ricers to mars, whether the cans release oxygen or not! lol ;P
 
The technology exists for interplanetary travel right now - the basic problem is escaping the Earth's gravitational influence (not that you actually can escape ANY gravitational influence, but you can reach a point where it's not the most important consideration). Building and launching ships from space, or other planetary bodies (Mars, the Moon, whatever) would allow us to create larger vessels with more space for people and less required for fuel.

There is also the technology for building a "Space Elevator", but the risk and cost is phenomenal. A space elevator requires a satellite in geosynchronous orbit (not hard), with a cable dropped down from it to an anchor point on the Earth's surface. We have the materials technology currently to build a prototype one, but it'll be a few decades until we can build a fully working one. The theory is that you will be taking more stuff DOWN the elevator - mined minerals and suchlike - than up, so the energy expenditure for going up is negligible, just like jumping up and down on the spot.

Then we have technology like Solar Sails - spacecraft using actual sails and riding on Solar winds. These can move at an appreciable fraction of the speed of light, compared to humanities' fastest 250,000mph from the two Helios probes. Solar sails are not appropriate for interstellar travel however, as you will reach a point - the heliopause - on the edge of the solar system where the solar wind ceases. All star systems are contained within a heliopause, which can be considered as a kind of barrier - you need SOME speed to break through it. I believe only the two Voyagers and Pioneer 10/11 have acheived the necessary speed on their way out (the two Helios probes went the other direction, but a lot quicker).

Europa is a good bet, with a few minor problems. It's likely to have extant life - humanity would contaminate it. It's covered in a mile-thick glacier, underneath which is 100% ocean (current belief, based on observations from, amongst other things, the Galileo probe which recently was crashed into Jupiter to prevent contamination. Then there's the fact that it's bloody tiny - like Mars - so has a very small gravitational influence compared to Earth, which we are unlikely to tolerate. Oh, and there's the big problem of Jupiter, which chucks off so much radiation it's not even funny.

NASA's main problem isn't that they are cheap, paranoid liars, but that they are cheap where it actually matters. Like everyone else they spend far too much money on administration costs and not enough on backup plans. I called the Columbia disaster after seeing the take-off - and I was waaaay more than cross when it did happen. NASA were aware of the danger, and Endeavour was actually on standby for a mission the month after, carrying ISS docking equipment (which Columbia didn't have). Keeping Columbia up there for another week and sending Endeavour up would have worked (EVA to Endeavour, dock with the ISS to drop off any excess crew - Endeavour would have needed a skeleton crew of 3 to pick up Columbia's 7, so they'd have only had to drop off 3 crew at the ISS - land and let a Soyuz bring the others back). But NASA didn't want the expenditure and took the risk - and we know what happened next...


There are only 3 problems standing in the way of us going to another planet/world:
1. Man - We're a little fragile. It'd take 8 months or so to get to Mars, at least 5 years to get to Jupiter or any of his moons assuming we can traverse the asteroid belt. We are also a bit obsessed with bureaucracy - the chances of anyone going to the Moon again are nil because the bureaucrats don't see the point of it. We've been there 7 times - why do we need to risk people again? A similar attitude exists towards Mars - why send people there to a place we know nothing about and risk their lives? But we all still get excited when things like Beagle land there (this Christmas Day).
2. Other organic life - we're having trouble creating a self-sustaining environment. This is in part due to ecologists not talking to anyone else (the first biosphere failed due to CO2 emission by setting concrete involved in the construction - a process ANY builder is aware of), but there are other reasons.
3. Money - Crossed with the bureaucracy again. Everyone appears to be aware of the price of everything yet the value of nothing. Scratch money and you scratch bureaucracy (in fact, I'm of the opinion that money is the most counter-evolutionary thing ever created and mankind would be a hell of a lot better without it). Scratch the cost of building big-ass spaceships and we can GET big-ass spaceships, and space elevators, and Solar Sails, and ion drives (currently exist, but not terrible good) and gravitational drives (ditto, but worse)...

[/sermon]
 
BTW - doesn't the Mayan calender count DOWN? Might be an idea to get on that space elevator before we find out why... :D
 
At the minute we don't have the technology to send a man to the moon! Never mind anywhere further away.

The Shuttle isn't powerful to break Earth's gravitational pull to get to the moon. What we need for that is a Saturn V but, to get funding for the Shuttle, NASA destroyed the plans on how to build the Saturn V :rolleyes:

What we need is Charlie and his great glass elevator!
 
I just brough up the mayans because i though it was wierd that their calender stops at December 21st, 2012 A.D. Becuase opf that astoid rumor that was going around. From what i remeber of my studies last year is that even today the ancestor of the mayans greatly fear that date. Im NOT saying the earth WILL end at that date, just though the astroid date being so similare was interesting.
 
we would have destroyed ourself b4 the sun does. if an astroid is going to hit us id think it would be easier and more sensible to find a way to destroy it.
 
Originally posted by daan
The Shuttle isn't powerful to break Earth's gravitational pull to get to the moon. What we need for that is a Saturn V but, to get funding for the Shuttle, NASA destroyed the plans on how to build the Saturn V :rolleyes:
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Ah, but the Shuttle - albeit a bunch of missions stuck together - can assist in building a second ship in orbit, much like the ISS. This ship wouldn't need to escape the Earth's atmosphere, just the gravity at Earth + 300 miles (or so). Probes launched from the Shuttle acheive escape velocity relatively easily (although often have to make a few round trips first). Or you could build a massive ship/station in space and navigate it to one of the three Earth/Moon LaGrangian points, where no overall gravitational influence exists and use that as a launch pad... And so on.

We do still have a few rockets - mainly Russian, but hopefully the ESA can get their finger out and stop building self-destructing Ariane IV rockets - which are capable of leaving the Earth's sphere of influence. Besides, building a Saturn V replacement isn't... exactly... rocket... science... Damn.
 
Originally posted by Famine
I called the Columbia disaster after seeing the take-off - and I was waaaay more than cross when it did happen.
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what do you mean by that? did you call nasa and tell them the shuttle was going to explode on re-entry? or did u just think that something bad was going to happen sooner or later?

space elevator? sounds cool.

im not sure about this radiation thing coming off jupiter... why would it be emiting any radiation at all? if anything i'd hazard a guess that we'd be better off on europa than on the moon cause jupiter's immense gravitational field would shield us from the SUN'S radiation.

though to be realistic i think we need to develop warp technology further, compressing space/time to increase our speeds. otherwise we can more or less forget space exploration beyond our solar system...
 
I'm sure that'd have gone down well... No, I saw the launch impact and thought that it'd be bloody risky landing it with heavily damaged ceramic tiles... One of those moments I'd have loved to been wrong.

Jupiter is a massive gas giant. It spins at phenomenal speed and there are nuclear events in it's atmosphere - it's actually slightly larger than some Brown Dwarf stars, which have similar composition - and it throws off stupid amounts of gamma radiation. The inner moons are mostly scorched by the radiation, whilst being bloody freezing. The average surface temperature of Europa is running at just over 30K (-243C), which is another mild problem - aside from living on an ocean world half-radiated to death.

Actually, living near Jupiter is riskier in terms of asteroidal/comet impacts - it acts as a shield for most of the inner solar system (remember Shoemaker-Levy 9?) and pulls a lot of them in towards itself. Now imagine being in the way...
 
Famine -
atom.gif
Now I know why this smiley is named after you!
 
Originally posted by Famine
I'm sure that'd have gone down well... No, I saw the launch impact and thought that it'd be bloody risky landing it with heavily damaged ceramic tiles... One of those moments I'd have loved to been wrong.

Jupiter is a massive gas giant. It spins at phenomenal speed and there are nuclear events in it's atmosphere - it's actually slightly larger than some Brown Dwarf stars, which have similar composition - and it throws off stupid amounts of gamma radiation. The inner moons are mostly scorched by the radiation, whilst being bloody freezing. The average surface temperature of Europa is running at just over 30K (-243C), which is another mild problem - aside from living on an ocean world half-radiated to death.

Actually, living near Jupiter is riskier in terms of asteroidal/comet impacts - it acts as a shield for most of the inner solar system (remember Shoemaker-Levy 9?) and pulls a lot of them in towards itself. Now imagine being in the way...
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i had no idea that there are nuclear reactions of that magnitude in jupiter. i figured it would have started a fire had that been the case, making it another sun... anyone read 2001ad? :P as for the temperature on europa i think we needn't worry cause if we burrowed down far enough we'd get close to its core, pulled and stretched by jupiter it would actually be quite warm there... though clearly after our earth is destroyed there wont be any places we can go in our solar system that would give us a life nearly as comfortable.

anyone thought of setting fire to all that gas in jupiter or saturn and making it another sun (not unlike 2001ad). what would we need to get that done?
 
Originally posted by xAkirax2004
You could be right F1.

Although, id like to think about 2.5 to 3 billion years ago, their was a civilazation FAR more advanced than us. like anywhere between 100 years and 1,500 years advanced than us. about 2.1 billion years ago, that was wiped out by something (asteroid, explosion etc.) and then the "re-evolution" happened and we are yet to be as advanced as they were at one time.


I sound like a geek, dont I?:P

Any thoughts on this?
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Well obviously they coiuldn't have been to advanced if they didn't notice a metorite heading for them and didn;t do anything about it. Your theory is plain crap, throuh it out the window!!
 
hehe

well i think that we could at least save some people enough to keep the knowledge and human race goin but i dont know about the other 6billion ppl
 

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