How about a ship that doesn't intend to return?

Question

Why do we always talk about space travel with the idea that Earth is a return point? What if we built a ship/ships capable of sustaining a small population for a longer time frame, point them in the direction of a possible earth-like planet and just let them go? I'd sign up for that trip! Anyone else?

The Earth hurtles through space around the Sun, obviously, but also around the center of the Galaxy(along with the rest of our solar system). So you could say that we are already on a self-contained, sel-sustaining spaceship. And it is supporting almost 7 billion people. So why can't we construct a smaller version to support a thousand or two?

Answer 1

as was mentioned. its been thought about for years.......like many other ideas, Robert Heinlein wrote about it first in Methuselahs Children....

we will need to practice closed ecology ships first, probably in near Earth orbit, and we need to do some serious deep space scans to find a planet to go to....although with the number of extra solar planets being found all the time, that may not be too much of a problem......

doable? not QUITE yet but maybe soon...consider we have had heavier then air flight for only a hundred years and space travel for barely 50....

Now, you have a good point about "coming back" and I'd like to add to it. Most talk about Mars implies the expeditions would come back.

Why? Jamestown didn't come back. the Pilgrims didn't come back.......a one way trip to explore and colonize Mars is doable with the knowledge we have today and the technology we could build tomorrow if someone would cut a check

Answer 2

The fact of the matter is that space is so inmensly big that the idea of interplanetary travel goes beyond many generations of human lives. You would have absolutely no chance of getting out of the ship, no certainty of what is it you'll find when you get there and people that are travelling with you will die. No only that, there are certain gory details that not many people take into account like the fact that since you pretty much have to take all that you'll ever use for the next couple hundred years, you'll also have to recycle everythig, and I do mean everything... Soylent green anybody?
To put it in perpective think it like this, Jupiter is about ten times as wide as the Earth, so imagine it measures 1/25th of an inch; Pluto is about 10 yards away and the size of a microbe, no only that, the closest star would be at 10,000 miles away. That is a looooong way to go. Especialy when it is only a long shot.

Answer 3

This idea has been proposed before:

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A generation ship is a hypothetical starship that travels across great distances between stars at a speed much slower than that of light (see interstellar travel). Since such a ship might take from as little as below a hundred years to hundreds or even tens of thousands of years to reach even nearby stars, the original occupants might either grow old or die during the journey and leave their descendants to continue traveling, depending on the life span of its inhabitants and relativistic effects.

It is estimated that, in order to assure genetic diversity during a centuries-long trip, a generation starship would require at least 500 inhabitants. Sperm banks or egg banks can drastically reduce the requisite number. Additionally, the ship would have to be almost entirely self-sustaining (see Biosphere and life support), providing food, air, and water for everyone on board. It must also have extraordinarily reliable systems that could be maintained by the ship's inhabitants over long periods of time.

It has been suggested that humans create large, self-sustaining space habitats before sending generation ships to the stars. Each space habitat would be isolated from the rest of humanity for a century, but remain close enough to Earth for help. This would test whether thousands of humans can survive on their own before sending them beyond the reach of help....

Answer 4

Tell you what. I find it intriguing to contribute to a one-way ticket for you by any means possible..... even a slingshot or catapult.

It's been thought of before, hypothetically.

It's costly as heck. The life-support systems, the propulsion and fuel.

It would take a heck of a lot of training, primarily in societal order. The crew, all of them, would have to be as ants, serving the greater good, for centuries, for eons.

And all that for an abject long-shot. A true Earth-like planet hasn't been found. Shopping for a new home planet from such great distances away is way out of the range of "wishful". And what if some scientist says........

"According to my calculations,.....ummmm.......hmmm
I must have misplaced a decimal."

Answer 5

So, we send it to an 'Earth-like' planet, but we couldn't do any testing until we got close enough. Turns out, too much carbon in the air, we'd all die. Now, we're stuck in a spaceship without any fuel to get back, for the rest of our lives. Most people dont like that, that's why we wont do it.

Answer 6

Considering you woudl quickly run out of food, water and oxygen in the first few months...illness upon passengers (how do you treat them?) What if something goes wrong on the ship and needs repair? Who is going to repair it?
We arent ready for anything like this yet