"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain)
08/25/2016 at 01:14 • Filed to: None
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"Nick Has an Exocet" (nickallain)
08/25/2016 at 01:14 • Filed to: None | 4
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I’m a bit of a nerd and happen to work at a space company so this feels like a big deal. A planet as small as 1.3 Earths (in mass) in a habitable zone is a “must investigate” no matter what. At 20% of light speed, it would take about 20 years to get there. I hate to get political, but if NASA isn’t planning a probe (or 3+) to be launched in the next 3-5 years, then I’m honestly not sure what we’re paying taxes for.
!!! UNKNOWN CONTENT TYPE !!!
Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch
> Nick Has an Exocet
08/25/2016 at 01:21 |
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Yeah, seriously, we need to send all kinds of probes.
TheHondaBro
> Nick Has an Exocet
08/25/2016 at 01:23 |
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It might be in the habitable zone, but it’s being showered by radiation from the star. Not a pleasant planet.
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Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch
> TheHondaBro
08/25/2016 at 01:27 |
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However, it may be tidally locked too, meaning half could be habitable.
Nauraushaun
> Nick Has an Exocet
08/25/2016 at 01:55 |
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Can we travel at 20% of light speed?
Frenchlicker
> Nauraushaun
08/25/2016 at 02:11 |
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It appears someone is trying, but to send something to Alpha Centauri.
CRider
> Nick Has an Exocet
08/25/2016 at 02:17 |
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Send all the Probes!
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Nauraushaun
> Frenchlicker
08/25/2016 at 02:31 |
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Have they tried using a lowered Civic with a pod filter and a cannon exhaust?
El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
> Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch
08/25/2016 at 03:20 |
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Don’t pass the ecuador or you’re fried?
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Bman76 (no it doesn't need a WS6 hood) M. Arch
> El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
08/25/2016 at 03:27 |
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Do not pass The Ecuador, do not collect $200.
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El Relámpago(LZone) - Humanity First!
> Nick Has an Exocet
08/25/2016 at 03:28 |
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I’ll tell you what we’re paying taxes for. So corporation who make useless shit like this, can get away with lower taxes. There’s also the 70 billion, religious organizations don’t pay every year. So yeah.
facw
> Nick Has an Exocet
08/25/2016 at 03:31 |
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It’s far from the best candidate, but given the relative proximity, it would be worth an Apollo level effort to take a look. And it would probably require one, getting to .2c (and being able to slow down on the other end) is not easy, even with a small probe. On top of that, you need to worry about hitting stuff at that speed, even a particle of dust would be a very high energy collision. On top of that, you’d need your equipment to function unattended for decades, and good luck with any remote troubleshooting, given that your communications turnaround could be up to 8 years.
Of course I really can’t see any of that happening in the current political climate, so I’m guessing instead we just see a lot more telescope time devoted to studying this thing, determining if it has an atmosphere, and trying to learn as much as we can about conditions there as we can here.
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facw
> Nauraushaun
08/25/2016 at 03:43 |
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The fastest spacecraft we’ve ever built were the Helios probes, which travelled at 0.000234c, roughly 1000 times slower than that 0.2c figure. And those only did that by travelling towards the Sun. Voyager 1, the fastest spacecraft leaving the Solar System is travelling at around a 4000th of 0.2c. So we’d have a long way to go.
Of course none of those were built with interstellar speeds in mind, we’d obviously go faster if that’s what we were trying for. That type of speed is still beyond what has been talked about for nuclear pulse propulsion (which tends to get presented as topping out at 0.05c), but it doesn’t seem like it is an impossible goal.
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Nauraushaun
> facw
08/25/2016 at 05:48 |
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So all these articles and news sites that are making it sound like there’s Earth 2 just around the proverbial corner are literally nothing but clickbait.
If we make something that can travel 1000 times faster than anything we’ve built has ever travelled, we can reach it in 20 years for the first time ever using an unmanned craft.
If we do something really really hard that we’ve never even come close to doing, we’ll still be really far from finding out if this planet is remotely livable.
WELL SHIT, SELL THE HOUSE WE’RE MOVING TO SPACE
It’s a great big find for the science community, but the news sites are fluffing it up bigger than it is. It seems unlikely we’ll be able to visit it within our lifetimes.
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TheHondaBro
> facw
08/25/2016 at 06:17 |
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We can’t really test propulsion systems that go any faster, because if they’re successful, well, they’re gone...
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TheHondaBro
> facw
08/25/2016 at 06:19 |
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This is when we build four more Voyager probes to get to Voyager 6. Fate will take over, trust me.
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Frenchlicker
> Nauraushaun
08/25/2016 at 06:41 |
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I view these finds like I view Tesla: Unnecessary on their own but they are great for pushing innovation.
jimz
> TheHondaBro
08/25/2016 at 06:53 |
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V’ger is that which seeks the creator.
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Nauraushaun
> Frenchlicker
08/25/2016 at 18:24 |
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Definitely. And I like that science makes the news and all the awareness that brings and everything, and how it’s advancing humanity even if it will take another 100 years.
But when news sites take that science and exaggerate it so they can make a buck off ad views it has the opposite effect on humanity.