Space Travel

[anurag.baghail57]

Space Travel is a dream for all people in world. It has also become job of some. But what are the ways to travel in space other than native one : Through Space shuttle. Going with some ET ? Well i have other idea than these. I would like to call it Gravity Control . And it's much easy to go to space by gravity control. let your ideas be heard by all contribute t world.

[Darkmere]

Please, tell me more about this Gravity Control system. This looks interesting but I can't figure out how we will use it when there is no gravity in space.

Actually there is gravity in space. Gravity is the attraction of two objects to cause them to want to move to the center of each other. A bouncy Ball has gravity. Now like on the space shuttle when you see the astronauts float in what appears to be 0 gravity is actually due to falling, so the space shuttle is actually falling around the earth which causes a simulated 0 gravity effect. If you were to reach out and grab the space shuttle and stop it dead in its tracks I can guarantee you the astronauts will hit the floor.

---------- Post added at 11:49 AM ---------- Previous post was at 11:48 AM ----------

So I should rephrase: Space has gravity anywhere there is an entity with a mass is present

[essellar]

All you need to do is use Python:



(Image courtesy XKCD; used in accordance with the Creative Commons Attribution/Non-Commercial 2.5 license.)

Frankly, we don't know what gravity is yet. Yes, we have defined its effects, but we don't know what makes it work. It may or may not be related to the forces we do sort of understand (the electromagnetic force and the strong and weak nuclear forces), but all we really know is that it is somehow related to mass -- and we don't understand mass. It has been proposed that mass is moderated by the Higgs boson, but that's just a transfer of blame, so to speak; it still doesn't explain the phenonemon of mass, nor does it explain how gravitation works.

Tesla claimed, in his later life, to have found a means for overcoming gravity. Well, Tesla claimed to have discovered a lot of things in his later life that were a bit outrageous, but let's give him the benefit of the doubt in this particular matter. What would that statement have meant? Did he, in fact, find a way to eliminate mass (or its effects, which would also include momentum and inertia), or just a way to counteract the force between an object and the earth locally (an equal and opposite repulsive force)? And if that's the case, how much power would be required to sustain it? Is it something that an "antigravity ship" could carry with a lesser mass penalty than propellants? If not, then we're still stuck with carrying enough fuel to leave our destination object, navigate the gravitational wells of other bodies, etc.

It's worth investigating (that's what the LHC is for) but I wouldn't hold my breath waiting for a technological application of the concept.

[kcmodc25]

What about space wind? I've seen pictures of proposed space ships with sails. Not sure how strong that wind is, but it would be funny if it were so strong that it could blow you so off course that you couldn't get back to Earth with your remaining fuel. Of course, Neil Armstrong didn't have a problem with any of that, AND he landed vertically on the moon...just think what would have happened if they'd SLAMMED into the moon going even just 10 miles an hour!

Apollo 11 4 EVA!

[SJ.Wolfe]

What about space wind? I've seen pictures of proposed space ships with sails. Not sure how strong that wind is, but it would be funny if it were so strong that it could blow you so off course that you couldn't get back to Earth with your remaining fuel. Of course, Neil Armstrong didn't have a problem with any of that, AND he landed vertically on the moon...just think what would have happened if they'd SLAMMED into the moon going even just 10 miles an hour!

Apollo 11 4 EVA!

In the sci-fi lore I've seen/read/known of, those sails were actually solar panels designed to catch the rays of any nearby stars, converting them to energy, and using that energy to power the ships engines.

[Darkmere]

What about space wind? I've seen pictures of proposed space ships with sails. Not sure how strong that wind is, but it would be funny if it were so strong that it could blow you so off course that you couldn't get back to Earth with your remaining fuel. Of course, Neil Armstrong didn't have a problem with any of that, AND he landed vertically on the moon...just think what would have happened if they'd SLAMMED into the moon going even just 10 miles an hour!

Apollo 11 4 EVA!

I thought NASA already had something like this, they called them Solar Sails and were used on probes that were heading to other planets in our system. And they said they were extremely slow. I did a search on NASAs site and they said that the IKAROS Spacecraft was launched in 2010 and it uses Solar Sails for propulsion

[Jake]

I thought NASA already had something like this, they called them Solar Sails and were used on probes that were heading to other planets in our system. And they said they were extremely slow. I did a search on NASAs site and they said that the IKAROS Spacecraft was launched in 2010 and it uses Solar Sails for propulsion

Yes, they did. Solar sails aren't powered by anything even remotely similar to wind. A direct quote from Wikipedia.

Solar sails (also called light sails or photon sails) are a form of spacecraft propulsion using the radiation pressure of light from a star or laser to push enormous ultra-thin mirrors to high speeds. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_sail)

If you don't want to believe Wikipedia as a source, feel free to click on the links to the extremely dull and large research papers on it all. Enjoy!

[Darkmere]

Yes, they did. Solar sails aren't powered by anything even remotely similar to wind. A direct quote from Wikipedia.

Solar sails (also called light sails or photon sails) are a form of spacecraft propulsion using the radiation pressure of light from a star or laser to push enormous ultra-thin mirrors to high speeds. (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Solar_sail)

If you don't want to believe Wikipedia as a source, feel free to click on the links to the extremely dull and large research papers on it all. Enjoy!

To be fair Solar Sails can be powered by Solar Winds which are charged particles mostly photons that are expelled from the Suns Atmosphere similar to that of Actual Wind

---------- Post added at 10:11 AM ---------- Previous post was at 10:09 AM ----------

except that it doesnt consist of air molecules like what we find here on earth. But if refereed to the definition of wind then yes it is not even close. So imo it would heavily rely on the definition along with perception of the actual use of the word.

[kcmodc25]

Good thing there ain't no such thing as wind in space, else those NASA dudes would be up crap creek if they got hit by a blast of it. It's also good it's so easy to communicate in space. No radiation interference whatsoever. Just hook up a comm device, a while later yer moving yer Mars robot around and sending back video. Shoot, even that darn Voyager probe could send back photos and such, all the way from ???

The one thing I learned from NASA is, Space is cool and easy with the physics. So simple. Landing vertically on live television on the moon. I'll have to try that one day...

Duh. I thought that there wind were particles and gases moved by gravitational forces and such, nows I know about those there photons, I knows it better. Ain't no wind in space, that's what you feel on yer face as you eat a hot dog and watch a baseball game. I like baseball...

[FrozenTime]

I always thought wind was just the movement of temperature, but after just now looking it up, I guess it's just caused by that. Well, there goes that theory I just had.