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In space travel: Beating the speed of light.
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by djangofan | April 7, 2010 at 05:52 pm
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I was dreaming about traveling to other stars the other day and it occurred to me that there is a way for humans to reach near light speed in space travel with significantly less effort. The only thing that my theory requires is that a space probe of minimal capability reaches another planet first. You see, once the space probe has been planted then radio signals can be transferred between Earth and the probe.
Here is my theory, which I call the "Radio Upgrade Theory of Space Travel". First, we send a robot space probe to another star system to land on another planet. Lets say that it is 10 light years away in my example. Lets say it takes 50 years for this probe to reach the other star. Now, if the robot on the space probe is equally or better capable in movement and intelligence as a human, this probe can then receive its "upgrade" data as soon as it arrives: a signal that was sent out on the 40th year to reach the robot when it arrives. The robot can immediately upgrade itself with better technology and generate 2 human beings in its lab within a year. These human beings can then replicate as quickly as they can. On about the 63rd year it is possible they could have their own children.
Now, at this point, actual space travel is unnecessary since the new humans can receive a constant stream of new technology on which to build a fast civilization on the new planet. Messages of their progress reach Earth in only 10 years and solutions to their questions can be acquired in about 20 years via a radio signal.
I think this is how aliens travel the stars. They don't fly around on spaceships. They seed new planets and then broadcast data to upgrade those remote civilizations. Theoretically they might send a signal to us that allows them to upgrade us.
Just a thought that I thought I would share with the world.
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Most RecentMost Recommended Comments (16)
at 07:05 on April 8th, 2010
You sadden me because I thought you were about to state a better theory...still involving Radio waves.
Matter cannot reach light speeds or beyond but radio waves can be pushed many times the speed of light.
http://current.com/technology/90301786_scientists-make-radio-waves-travel-faster-than-light.htm?xid=ch60
If we focus on transitioning matter to radio waves we could push information (read matter) to other worlds many times the speed of light and thus use radio waves to achieve this feat.
Good luck with the robot!
Levey
at 09:39 on April 11th, 2010
It is not possible for information to travel faster than the speed of light. What the guy who wrote this article actually did is measure the radio waves phase velocity. Phase velocity and wave velocity are not the same thing. Read up on your optics and you'll see what I'm talking about.
at 17:01 on April 8th, 2010
Theoretically, travel at speeds higher than that of light must be possible. Think of a balloon being blown up so that the speed any given point on the rubber sphere is equal to that of light in relation to the center of the balloon. A point opposite that on the sphere would be moving away from it at exactly twice the speed of light, I would imagine. But I was a history major, so who knows.
at 18:53 on April 12th, 2010
hey bill. I dont claim to be any kind of expert but im a 3rd year physics student. Your logic is somewhat sound from a classical standpoint but think of it as 2 card driving in opposite directions at 90% the speed of light. Both only move at 90% the speed of light. the second car classically speaking would appear to be moving 180% the speed of light RELATIVE to the other car (that is if car 1 assumes it is standing still car 2 is moving 180% the speed of light away from it) at classical speeds (say 50 km/h) this works you could either assume both are moving opposite directions 50 km/h or that one is stationary and the other is moving at 100km/h but once we reach significant percentages of the speed of light things begin to distort and even relative motion cant exceed the speed of light from the observers point of view. One of the tenants of einsteins theory of relativity in fact is that light is observed as moving at the same speed regardless of your inertial frame ( a stationary person mesures light to be moving away from him at 3x10^8 m/s and someone moving at 90% the speed of light also perceives light to be moving away form him at 3x10^8 m/s. It seems counter intuitive, trust me I know but einsteins equations have been scientifically proven time and time again in laboratories using relativistically accelerated particles. In fact even at classical speeds such as 50 km/h relativity can still be observed, just on scales so extremely small as not to be of any value ( a concord jet flying at supersonic speeds is 1 atoms width shorter allong the axis of its movement than a stationary concord for instance) I hope this helps!
at 01:16 on April 9th, 2010
This made me really sad. I only got for sentences in before I had to stop reading. the sentence "Lets say it takes 50 years for this probe to reach the other star. " is just such a big problem. especially given that the 'star' is supposed to be "10 light years away".Do you realize how freaking far away that is? One Light year is 5,878,630,000,000 miles. now multiply that by ten. And realize your theory only starts out by hypothesizing a probe travels that distance in fifty years..... now remove your palm from your forehead and move on.
at 01:16 on April 9th, 2010
Four***
at 23:33 on April 12th, 2010
at 14:50 on April 10th, 2010
Go back to sleep and continue dreaming.
at 14:54 on April 10th, 2010
In the amount of time it would take to send a robot probe to another planet, our technology will have improved IMMENSELY to the point where the robot probe would likely be irrelevant. Fifty years ago, technology was bullshit. Fifty years from now, our technology will be absolute and utter bullshit. Exponential growth is just too powerful for this to be reasonable.
at 18:59 on April 10th, 2010
That is a very inefficient way to colonize the universe mate, sorry. Assuming by the time we can make something go 20% the speed of light (huge comparably to right now, to show example voyager 1 is going 16490 m/s and 20% the speed of light is a shade under 60 million m/s) hopefully we've increased our knowledge in the nanotech and AI fields of science. What I'm about to summarize is already a well established theory (name eludes me and I take no credit for) where we send a self replicating nano-machine cluster to distant planet preferably outside our local cluster. The nano-machines land on the planet use the minerals on said planet to self replicate and send those "replicants" to other planets. You're thinking too far and assuming the planet these drones are sent to are habitable and that if they are habitable that they aren't already inhabited by another sentient species. Think if we were to make humans on a planet with no air, not a very successful mission eh? Even with a life support system or advanced terra-forming the costs for that would be astronomical compared to sending these nano-machines out to do our dirty work. Back to the nano-machines though....After these nano-machines have replicated to the point where they were sophisticated to the point where they could send data back to Earth that's how we'll plot our course through the stars. I know this is a much slower process compared to yours in the actual bringing of humans to said explored planets but it is much safer and we're still a couple of a hundred years off before we meet the milestone of being able to do this, possibly millenia. There are catastrophes the Earth has to deal with in the more definite future and if we do conquer those obstacles and make it to the point where this is possible I don't think we'll be too impatient about exploration. Plus you wouldn't have to deal with the whole couple humans on desolate planet all alone scenario. I think sentient beings created for the sole purpose of being guinea pigs would not make said sentient beings very happy. Plus the communication process between our two worlds would take years, something we can't afford to do if for some reason the humans on the explored planet die and we don't hear about for years. Couple things I'm assuming.....1.Nanotech and AI (plus several other fields still deeply rooted in super-science for the time being) will be advanced enough that we can encode designs for different electronic devices for it to assemble into to further its exploration of the universe and its communication with us. ex)propulsion systems and satellite dishes.
at 12:03 on April 11th, 2010
A lot of holes in this theory, but I like the overall concept.
at 12:20 on April 11th, 2010
massive underestimation on the time taken to get there, even using a solar sail craft you could only get to about 7.5e6 m/s, putting in at a measly 40th of the speed of light. it wouldnt take less than 400 years to get to a planet 10 light years away, and even that is tremendously optimistic
at 00:56 on April 12th, 2010
what if instead of radio signals other life forms are sending us brain wave signals and thats how we advance as a race when one of us pick up these signals and we end up calling them ideas but in reality its just another biological upgrade. like evolution but trigered by another advanced civilization whose offspring we are.
at 01:40 on April 12th, 2010
Nice sum-up, Matt the space guy. We must also remember that all it takes is one little low-bid item to fail and POOF!
at 02:41 on April 12th, 2010
You can not beat the speed of light. However teleportation could be a possibility, quantum physics may lead to fulfilling your dream.
at 12:57 on April 12th, 2010
Functional quantum entanglement and tunneling over galactic distances is the only way to travel anywere at any rate of speed. Sub atomic particles are tunneling and entangling at an infinite rate every second over the entire spanse of the universe, the question is if we can use that for something useful (information transportation) or if it's just a useless cacophony of unstable background noise.Your theory on the other hand is complete crap and does nothing to beat, bend, or even hold a candle to the speed of light. So go back and dream out some more useless thoughts or go learn real physics, not just the garbage they package into tv specials.