2006-06-25 08:57:49 · 16 answers · asked by Christopher P 1 in Science & Mathematics ➔ Astronomy & Space
If you made a scale model with the distance from the earth to the sun scaled to be one inch, the distance to the *nearest* star other than the sun would be over 4 miles! Most of the stars we see at night (without a telescope) would be from 4 miles to over 1000 miles on this scale.
So the basic problem with interstellar travel is that the distances are absolutely incredible. The farthest that a probe of ours has travelled is about 9 feel on this scale and it has taken 3 decades to do that.
2006-06-25 10:35:52 · answer #1 · answered by mathematician 7 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because of the distances, for example the closest star to us is the Sun, its 92-96 million miles away.
After that, the next closest is 4.2 light years, considering light travels at 186,000 miles per second, you can do the math to see how many trillions of miles away it is.
Next, comes the problem of carrying your fuel for your propulsion. 90% of a rocket launched into space is fuel just to get it up there. Imagine carrying enough rocket fuel for a trillion mile trip.
So without some new form of propulsion, something that is much faster than a rocket as well as more energy efficient, we won't be interstellar traveling anytime soon.
2006-06-25 09:03:13 · answer #2 · answered by Rendored 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Because we are not able to live for hundreds of years,which is what it would take to get to the nearest star for interstellar travel.If we could figure out how to freeze ourselves for the trip,then it may work.But the other problem with that is the feeding of our bodies.So it really is a large problem to travel through interstellar space.Hope i helped you out a bit.
2006-06-25 12:19:42 · answer #3 · answered by Answerguy111 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
Einsteins theory of relativity says that nothing can travel faster than the speed of light. The same theory says that objects begin to mass more as their speed increases - this has been shown in accelerators etc. Thus even if you could get anywhere near the speed of light it would take more than 4 years to get to the nearest star - and much longer to get anywhere else. In Star Trek Voyager it was always said that Voyager was 70,000 light years from earth. In the real world that journey would take more than 70,000 years. To quote Douglas Adams, space is big, really big.
2006-06-25 09:05:56 · answer #4 · answered by bookersoarhead 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
the closest thing i heard about interstellar space travel turned out to be bullshit, but it had me convinced for a while and i enjoyed it. He sounded so convincing. it's a cool explanation so maybe there's some truth to it. his name is Bob Lazar. I think if you do a search for The Lazar Tape you'll find it. I rented it from a video store years ago.
2006-06-25 17:14:23 · answer #5 · answered by Hymn 2 · 0⤊ 0⤋
As it has been said, space is big. And we need a convenient way to carry fuel with us. Antimatter seems to have hope, but we need to perfect it as a propulsion system before we can hope to send astronauts to even the nearest star to the sun, Proxima Centauri.
Actually, Proxima Centauri is about 24 trillion miles away.
2006-06-25 09:02:55 · answer #6 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
You have to deal with the vacuum and lack of gravity in outer space. Also, you have to deal with mental health issues. You would be confining the astronauts to a small spacecraft for long periods of time. You have to be able to provide diversions and innocent distractions from their environment. And you can't go faster than the speed of light. It would take years just to make it to the nearest star.
2006-06-25 12:50:31 · answer #7 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
Time, the closest star is 25 trillion miles away.
It would take 4.3 years traveling at the speed of light to get there.
2006-06-25 09:01:24 · answer #8 · answered by ☼Jims Brain☼ 6 · 0⤊ 0⤋
We do not yet have the capabilities to travel to other stars. Even if we did, could you imagine travelling at near the speed of light and hitting a speck of dust? Instant death.
2006-06-25 17:01:36 · answer #9 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋
yes distance the closest galaxy to us in andromeda i think and it is many trillions of light years away...186,000 miles per sec is the speed of light so you would have to travel many many times the speed of light to actually reach the star in your life time...plus what do you you use for propulison to go that fast and how do you fuel it.....? not to mention if you did attain light speed or even close to it..you better have some form of inertial damnper to keep to secure or splato! imagine a rolloercoaster 1 million times faster than anyone yourve ever been on ..taking of from 0 to light speed in a sec....splat!
2006-06-25 09:05:19 · answer #10 · answered by Anonymous · 0⤊ 0⤋