14 Responses

1. I vote for nuclear fusion. All other methods just seem way too weak to me.

2. I WOULD SAY THAT A SEMEN FILLED CAPSULE ON THE TOP OF A GEO METRO WOULD PROBABLY WORK THE BEST

3. about the only chance it will ever happen, in the conceivable future, would be if someone else visited us first, and shared their technology or either travel craft, or topology of the universe

4. As unmanned probes these are all quite feasible. With human being on board…difficult. You would have to have what are called ‘generation ships’, ecologically self sustaining vessels crewed by successive generations of humans during the VERY long time it would take to cross the distance. The only other possible way to do it might be some kind of long term hibernation like you see in various Star Trek (And TNG…and Alien(s) episodes) but such technology is far in the future.

5. WHY would we want to travel to the stars??

6. I’m sorry to say none of these methods–nor any other method that can now be imagined by the informed mind–would be capable of taking a spacecraft to even the nearest stars.

   Ion drive does not produce enough acceleration for any purpose but unmanned probes that can go slowly. Solar sails, of course are effective only near stars, and again cannot accelerate to any speed to speak of.

   Lasers are not propulsion devices, and neither is nuclear fusion. Both are in the realm of science fiction, and may never become real things.

   And if they do, they are suitable only for speeds that are tiny fractions of the speed of light. An ion drive propelled probe would take something like 70,000 years to reach the nearest star. What were you doing 70,000 years ago?

   So, as I say, sorry. Star travel will require a completely new technology and understanding of technology that is beyond imagining now.

7. What if, I say I can make a Star Trek warp drive and what should I do?
   Any Advise too? Speed is 1/4 of light for the first generation drive.

   Lol, totally new drive. Not related to above mentioned drive. Well?
   Should I go to NASA?

8. fusion drive propulsion

9. Based on the basic physical principals: the space ship moves when it propels part of it into the space. Laser or Ion can not do that. But on the other hand, how much fuel can you carry into one space? Very little.

   So I’d say we’ll need a revolutionary way to get ships fly in the space, which will undermine the classical Newton Principles.

10. well according to Einstein the speed of light is the cosmic limit anything above that would require much more energy then earht has not to metion time would reverse it self and you would start getting younger which isn’t really a good thing because there is no way to go back but the most reasonable is warping or teleportation without having molicules stick to someone elses forming an octopus looking creature

    Cheers

11. Most people can’t quite grasp this theory because they are so constricted in their thought processes: Space isn’t the final frontier… The Mind is. As a single, intelligent race its not likely possible we’ll ever travel the millions of miles and/or light years required to get to these impossibly far away destinations. But once we unlock the potent powers of our own mind, we’ll be able to “project” ourselves wherever we want; not being there physically, but mentally… including using sight.

    Of course we’re much more fragile of a civilization than most suspect, and at any given unforseen moment it could all be snuffed out. To me this scenario is more likely than us reaching the moment of enlightenment. As Shakespeare said… All the World’s a Stage… (and we’re the entertainment!). Some sentient lifeform is having a mighty laugh at our rudimentary expense… thats for sure!

12. Miniature black holes, and a way to control them. Watch for the C.E.R.N. project due to start up this year. Tachyon drives…Einstien wasn’t crazy, he just knew he wouldn’t live to see it built..

13. I’m sorry to say that most of you are incorrect, not to pick on you, but especially aviophage. aviophage is correct in some respects. All the technologies you listed will never work for travel to even the closest star, Alpha Centauri, which is 4 light years away.

    “Lasers are not propulsion devices, and neither is nuclear fusion. Both are in the realm of science fiction, and may never become real things.”

    Laser propulsion is currently in the very early research phase, but fusion does work. The problem with fusion is we are unable to create a self-sustaining fusion process with anything smaller than the sun. Currently we have to keep adding energy to it to keep it going.

    The problem with Fusion is that the energy density is way too low for interstellar flight.

    “So, as I say, sorry. Star travel will require a completely new technology and understanding of technology that is beyond imagining now. ”

    Not true. There is a propulsion device that will work today. That is matter-antimatter propulsion. You may have heard that it doesn’t work, but the only reason it isn’t used is the fact that the fuel, anti-protons, are prohibitively expensive. Currently this fuel is made in one of three particle accelerators at a very low percent. We would need about 139 micro grams of anti-protons at a cost of 6.4 billion dollars per micro gram.

    If anyone would like further information on this please e-mail me.

14. Buy couple of star gates from Wal-Mart. BOGO!

    Let me make some corrections. Pressure off light photons can push things as with solar sails, lasers. Portal fusion drives are long ways away, but they’re building one in France that will produce net power meaning it will generate more power than put in and this project (ITER) will be up and running in just few short years. Antimatter is the least likely method since it be such unreliable way to do it.