After all, space isn't a real vacuum. It has objects as big as the entire Universe in it (assuming there is only one universe) and physical objects as small as dust particles. In order to get anywhere in a practical timeframe, a ship would have to be able to travel at some large fraction of the speed of light (a problem I won't even raise here). Suppose you're going along at, say, half the speed of light and you run into a rock the size of a golf ball. It's good-bye spaceship isn't it? And at that speed, would it even be possible to detect and avoid such objects. Let's not even get into gamma ray bursts. While I, like all guys, love to fantasize about space travel, when I really think about it, it's pretty difficult to imagine being able to go any great distance without some sort of fatal catastrophe occurring. At least not without presupposing some kind of fanciful, "pie in the sky" solution like wormholes or "folding space."
2007-05-08
04:46:53
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7 answers
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asked by
Tom H
2
in
Astronomy & Space