Now a days we understand that the speed of light is the cosmological
speed limit of the universe. Nothing can literally go faster than the speed of
light. With this in mind travelling to the nearest star system will prove to be
a pain. Still taking months if not even years to reach the nearest habitable
planetary systems. We take into account the size of our solar system. A way to
look at how fast you could travel from one side of the solar system to the
other can be derived from a simple rule. The speed that light takes to travel
from the Sun to the Earth (about 8 minutes 19 seconds) you can image the
distance that the Sun is, relative to Earth. Earth is insignificant in terms of
size. Even a solar coronial injection is enough to vaporise the earth.
Basically even the essence of the Sun could kill us. So for the Sun to appear
very small, would mean that there would have to be a serious amount of distance
between us and the Sun.
To be exact for
mathematical sakes is about 92,935,700. This can also be known as an
Astronomical unit*.
A standardised unit
of distance in space
*The distance light that can travel in 8 and a half minutes = 1 AU
You can then take into account how far the Sun is from Pluto
(No longer a planet) and how long it takes light to reach it (Though it must be
noted that Pluto’s time difference can differ greatly due to tilt and angles of
150 Degrees, which can lead to almost double the time it would take at if it
was at 150 degree angle). But for arguments sake we can say 4.1 hours it takes
the sun to reach Pluto. This is a massive difference between the Sun and Earth
to the Sun and Pluto. Meaning that light would take 4.1 hours, so if we were
able to travel at the speed of light from the Sun to Pluto, depending on
orbital rotation it would take us about 4.1 hours. That’s not bad, that a bus
ride from Manchester to London perhaps. So it’s not too bad. But for inter
solar system travel is not really that interesting, in terms of new planetary
exploration. The planets in our solar
system are believed to be baron and scarce. With suggestion that life was
extinguished millions of years ago if there were any to begin with. Our
objective is past the solar system’s veil and into deep stellar space and the
nearest thing outside the solar system is so far away. Alpha Centauri the
nearest star system to the solar system we live it, habiting about 4.37 Light-years
away from Earth. As you can see to travel to this system would take 4.37 Years
to travel to if we managed to travel at the speed of light. Which to us this
isn’t practical. We were cursed to live in a rural part of the cosmos and
to commute to more populated star systems we have to take the local bus going
at low speed and the roof falling in. So we need another idea.
In the past there have been talks about a special drive that
can allow us to travel faster than the speed of light. Known as the Warp drive,
many trekkers will instantly recognize this word, as it’s used to allow the
star ship enterprise travel at immense speeds between galaxies and star
systems. Now to most this seems like fantastical approach to space travel,
inciting nothing more than sci fi hokum. Just a fancy word for a machine that
does the impossible. With no mathematics or physics behind the idea.
Fig.1 Graphical representation of Warp Theory.
Credit: Ian Steadman, Wired UK
At NASA they look at things completely differently, looking
into the possibility of a Warp drive that actually might be plausible. This
machine could be theorised to bend and warp space and time to allow for the
moving of vehicle or massive object through the fabric of space and time. Taking
advantage of a physical loophole in laws of physics that do not permit the
moving of mass faster than the speed of light. The drive has been theories
before, by a scientist by the name of Miguel Alcubierre, who believed the warp
drive was possible to make but required massive amounts of energy to actually
power the device. This power requirement is a lot more than what we could
currently generate. But now scientists claim that with the proper adjustments,
the warp drive would be able to be used without the requirement of ridiculous amount of energy. Reports has suggested the energy required would be equal to
the mass-energy of Jupiter.
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