Future of interplanetary space travel?

[Matrix Agent]

I know we have a lot of sci-fi space geeks, and physcics/math students out there, so I figured i'd run this by your for fun.

What are some cool ideas for space travel?

I've heard of solar wind sails, anti-matter drives, and ion propulsion systems, anyone heard of some cool ideas. I had though that we would be to jupiter by 2001, I guess not. We have some catching up to do. At least the computers are better than little red lights.

 

[Captain Code]

The bending of space, so that two very far points are pinched very close together, and we "hop" accross the small distance.

Possibly wormholes, either man-made, or naturally ocurring.

Slip stream.

Gravitational propulsion, where a huge concentrated gravitational field is generated infront of the ship, pulling it along. As the ship moves forward the field moves with it, and the ship is pulled, which pushes the field etc.

 

[edX]

Phil isn't being controlled by a bot. Phil is being controlled by an alien who has come here looking to steal our technilogical secrets. Fight it Phil, Fight it!! I know you are still in there. don't give in to it!!

 

[symphonix]

The other option is Cryogenics. You get frozen for the twenty-year journey to another system, then freeze yourself again while you wait for your luggage to catch up with you.
Now that I think of it, I'm pretty sure you can't re-freeze meat as it goes bad. Perhaps this is the point we're stuck on.

I recently obtained a british-TV special "Mars: The Red Planet" and it had some interesting stuff, from the inflatable spacecraft that NASA are working on (and which, in space, are stronger than steel) through to specific testing of martian soils to assess their suitability for making concrete and growing plants.
One of the most interesting bits was the interviews with astronauts who talk about the psychology of living in space. Something like: "One of the hardest things is looking for an object. All our lives our brains are trained to look ON surfaces, and so I find myself looking on the benches, on the shelves, when in fact what I need is floating just above my head."

The current "reference" mission to mars involves landing an automated chemical factory on mars 3 years before the manned mission arrives. It will sit there producing rocket fuel by processing the atmosphere, thus cutting the need to carry fuel for the return trip.

 

[rinse]

as much as i want space travel to be a reality.... i just don't see it happening anytime soon... we won't see mars until 2030 (ugghh).

there are just too many issues on this planet that need to be addressed before we should start venturing anywhere (even the moon again or mars) pollution, war, poverty, hunger, etc.

i think a good i dea for a martian journey would be to have a waypoint at the moon with the vehicle going to mars undergoing final constrution in a lower grav environment... less fuel needed for takeoff then.

however, perhaps nuclear fusion would be a boon for space travel.

 

[AdmiralAK]

cryogenics ???
no thanks
I get preserved while my girlfriend goes out with other people, gets married has a daughter of the same age as my age when I got frozen by the time I return... no thanks


How about slip-stream like on "Andromeda" ?
I did a physics paper on warp propulsion a few years ago...fascinating!

 

[RacerX]

Two important programs were lost in the 60's due to our race for the Moon and weapons treaties.

The first was the X-15/X-20 project that was working on a winged craft that could reach orbit and then return. The test pilots of the X-15 reached altitudes that qualified them as astronauts, and one of the planes was lost on re-entry because it came in side ways and burned up. That project was put on the back burner in favor of the Mercury program, though data from it was used in the design and construction of Rockwell's Space Shuttles in the mid 70's.

The second was the NERVA rocket engines which could get a spacecraft from here to Mars in under 90 days, but because it's use of nuclear power it was never used for spacecraft. It did produce some incredible results from the few test engines that were built and tested though.

An additional option that was a project suggestion when I was working at the Geometry Center was gravity assist from the Moon for out going (unmanned) spacecraft. The idea that we pushed around the table for a day or so was to first head to the Moon, then drop back to Earth, whip around back to the Moon which would be at its greatest speed relative to the final trajectory. We didn't talk about it much after that because I went on to a project dealing with tight immersions of manifold (both simplicial and smooth) and the other two people worked together on an orbital transfer problem dealing with getting to Mir (which is in the wrong orbit to reach directly from Florida).

Honestly, we would not have made it to the Moon yet (manned at least) if it were not for the cold war. We made it by brut force back then, yet today we could do it for a fraction of the cost... but don’t.