A Starship in 20 years?
So I'm nearly 32, and in my lifetime we have made HUGE leaps in technology. That's only 32 years. Before then we made massive leaps as well. What will we see in the next 20-30 years? Many scientists say we have much of the tech needed today to create a large starship. Cal Tech has developed an ion drive that functions very similar to an "impulse" engine for sub-light speeds. Scientists are also making strides in the experimentation and understanding of folding space and faster than light technologies. Believe it or not scientists have also "transported" light and a few molecules over a distance. Granted, transportation tech such as this involves the destroying and recreation of the molecules. Apparently if they had a computer capable of storing and computing the massive amount of data they could do it with a human...I think I'll pass for a few decades before I try it.
I personally would love to see massive starships built. One or two would give us a huge leap forward in experimentation with light speed travel and exploration. Could you imagine a ship moving slow as hell but large enough to launch probes and rovers to the planets from a near-orbit location? The things we could learn would be awe inspiring. We have also learned tons from experimentation in space. How do you experiment with space travel technology without being in space? It is rather difficult. Gravity kinda pollutes results on Earth. Time works differently. Even the GPS satellites in space have to compensate for time differential due to the speed they travel around the Earth and its shear size that causes time to warp. (Look this up...i'm not kidding.) We learned the hard way about this when the GPS network was first launched. Not to mention the fact that you're in a vacuum but not in "empty" space. Believe it or not we now know (through experimentation in space) that space isn't empty. Gene R. was on to something with Deflector Dishes to push particles out of the way of a fast moving space vehicle. Scientists now know that without such a device a ship would burn up from friction much like an object during re-entry back to Earth.
Do you think we'll have the tech to accomplish what you see in many of the movies such as Star Trek in 20-30 yrs? Think its a good idea? Know of any good strides in the move to accomplishing such a leap forward as this?
I for one hope one day we do develop this. More than likely I will be too old to experience it. I might get lucky enough to sit back and watch it happen. I'm just curious what you guys think given many of you are in your teens or younger.
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