Colonization of Other Solar Systems

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How will we colonize other solar systems?

Poll ended at 2002-10-11 12:10pm

Use of suspended animation
6
38%
Unmanned vehicles carrying frozen embryos
0
No votes
We'll develop FTL travel
5
31%
We'll colonize only this solar system
2
13%
We'll colonize the moon if we're lucky - but nothing else
2
13%
We're not getting off this rock!
1
6%
 
Total votes: 16

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jegs2
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Colonization of Other Solar Systems

Post by jegs2 »

Most here understand that FTL travel is physically impossible. That means that barring some miracle, travel to other solar systems may be either impossible or at least unfeasible. Perhaps we could use some form of suspended animation that we've seen in movies like Alien. So far as I know, such technology does not exist outside of sience fiction. So, to my poll....
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Mr Bean
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Post by Mr Bean »

Nothing is impossible
Mearly improbable

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Alyeska
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Post by Alyeska »

It is far more likely we will send exploration/colonization ships with suspended animation, but a small crew to keep things working in the begining with some crew being thawed out at certain times durring the trip. FTL travel has a realistic chance IMO of being developed in the FAR future, one sort of travel or another (be it real space or some quasi space or wormhole). But for the next thousand years we will be lucky to send a handful of sleeper ships.
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Knife
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Post by Knife »

It is possible that we will develope not FTL but engines with enough speed to get to the nearest stars in a realitivly reasonable time, say 5 to 10 years of travel time. Colonization would be some what simular to the colonization of the west a couple of hundred years ago.
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salm
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Post by salm »

we could just build extremely large biosphere´s with huge engines. thn put maybe a million people on it for a large genpool and send them off. after a couple of generations the ship would arive in alpha centauri or wherever and colonization could begin.

even though FTL sounds a lot cooler!
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GrandMasterTerwynn
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Re: Colonization of Other Solar Systems

Post by GrandMasterTerwynn »

jegs2 wrote:Most here understand that FTL travel is physically impossible. That means that barring some miracle, travel to other solar systems may be either impossible or at least unfeasible. Perhaps we could use some form of suspended animation that we've seen in movies like Alien. So far as I know, such technology does not exist outside of sience fiction. So, to my poll....
You've left out a couple of feasible/semi-feasible options, such as:

- Generational ships: In fact, if we had colonies out in the asteroids, it is concievable that some of them would eventually strap on a fusion drive and leave the solar system.

- Colonizing the nearest starsystems via ordinary STL ship travelling at some substantial fraction of c.
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His Divine Shadow
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Re: Colonization of Other Solar Systems

Post by His Divine Shadow »

GrandMasterTerwynn wrote:- Colonizing the nearest starsystems via ordinary STL ship travelling at some substantial fraction of c.
Possible, using huuge ships that we accelerate using huge solar powered lasers wich remotely power the ships.
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Post by GoneCrazy »

i wish could could develop FTL or do ANYTHING to colonize the rest of our solar system and others beyond. but at the rate were going i have to say it'll be a miracle for us to get to the moon let alone anything else.
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