Aliens

[marharth]

They do have the ability to tell whats its temperature is and if there is volcanic activity on a planet.

 

And atmosphere.

 

http://www.sciencedaily.com/releases/2010/09/100907113048.htm

Did you even read that article?

 

It clearly said that the eruption had to be massive, and it can only be detected from a certain distance out.

 

Also it said nothing of the atmosphere, you might be able to detect certain things if the planet passes in front of its star.

 

That is still not enough to accurately claim its habitual.

[Thor.]

Well its start anyways, i give it another 5 to 10 years.

[HeyYou]

In order for any of the information to be useful, we need to have some method of traveling TO those planets...... which we cannot do with current technology....... we are going to need some pretty hefty breakthroughs before it can happen. Fusion power at the very least.

[marharth]

In order for any of the information to be useful, we need to have some method of traveling TO those planets...... which we cannot do with current technology....... we are going to need some pretty hefty breakthroughs before it can happen. Fusion power at the very least.

My point exactly.

 

Not much point in finding habitual planets just to look at them and wonder.

 

We should be putting a lot more money into fusion power then we are now by the way.

 

Fusion power could solve so many problems.

[IndorilTheGreat]

We are focusing too much on "earth like planets."

 

All live doesn't HAVE to be carbon based, and all life doesn't necessarily have to be in the same zone as earth.

 

This is true. However, searching for planets that could support carbon based life is the easiest, as we know what to look for. :thumbsup:

 

We need to quit messing around with finding planets, and use that research time and money to work on advancing space travel.

 

I agree with this 110%. You can't plan a road-trip without a car.

[HeyYou]

In all reality..... coming up with a viable method of colonizing other worlds, be it faster than light travel, shipping folks frozen (suspended animation), or even generation ships...... would do great things for the world as a whole. New industries, new frontiers, and a way to relieve some of our excess population, without resorting to a war...... I am thinkin' though that FTL travel would have the highest likelihood of attracting 'explorers', or 'pilgrims', as the case may be.

[marharth]

In all reality..... coming up with a viable method of colonizing other worlds, be it faster than light travel, shipping folks frozen (suspended animation), or even generation ships...... would do great things for the world as a whole. New industries, new frontiers, and a way to relieve some of our excess population, without resorting to a war...... I am thinkin' though that FTL travel would have the highest likelihood of attracting 'explorers', or 'pilgrims', as the case may be.

Well we can't really travel faster then light according to our current model of physics, it would be more like teleportation or warping matter.

 

A good start would be developing a good source of fusion power, something like a artificial sun. That way we have a long lasting source of power, as well as a lot of power.

 

So IMO, we need to focus a lot of research on fusion power before anything else.

[HeyYou]

In all reality..... coming up with a viable method of colonizing other worlds, be it faster than light travel, shipping folks frozen (suspended animation), or even generation ships...... would do great things for the world as a whole. New industries, new frontiers, and a way to relieve some of our excess population, without resorting to a war...... I am thinkin' though that FTL travel would have the highest likelihood of attracting 'explorers', or 'pilgrims', as the case may be.

Well we can't really travel faster then light according to our current model of physics, it would be more like teleportation or warping matter.

 

A good start would be developing a good source of fusion power, something like a artificial sun. That way we have a long lasting source of power, as well as a lot of power.

 

So IMO, we need to focus a lot of research on fusion power before anything else.

 

I agree, a viable power source is most certainly going to be a necessary first step......

 

As for FTL.....well, that's an open question....... I like to believe we just don't know enough yet...... not that it simply can't be done.

[marharth]

In all reality..... coming up with a viable method of colonizing other worlds, be it faster than light travel, shipping folks frozen (suspended animation), or even generation ships...... would do great things for the world as a whole. New industries, new frontiers, and a way to relieve some of our excess population, without resorting to a war...... I am thinkin' though that FTL travel would have the highest likelihood of attracting 'explorers', or 'pilgrims', as the case may be.

Well we can't really travel faster then light according to our current model of physics, it would be more like teleportation or warping matter.

 

A good start would be developing a good source of fusion power, something like a artificial sun. That way we have a long lasting source of power, as well as a lot of power.

 

So IMO, we need to focus a lot of research on fusion power before anything else.

 

I agree, a viable power source is most certainly going to be a necessary first step......

 

As for FTL.....well, that's an open question....... I like to believe we just don't know enough yet...... not that it simply can't be done.

The thing about traveling faster then light is that it won't be straight forward like a modern day spaceship, plane, or car.

 

It would be possible through warping space, but that wouldn't really be traveling faster then light. It would be more like teleportation since your going to point a to point b without traveling in a direct line.

 

So if a car could somehow have the power needed to travel that fast, it couldn't be done by going directly forward.

 

A few things that might be possible though...

 

1. Mixing particles into a light beam, then shooting the beam to another target. This has already been done in a small scale lab test.

 

2. Artificial wormholes, although wormholes are not proven to exist, if they did exist you could make a shortcut to be able to travel to point a to point b much faster. Like folding a piece of paper, it will make two ends touch each other much closer instead of moving across the paper normally.

 

3. If dark matter/dark energy exists, it may be possible to manipulate it to appear to move faster.

 

I hope what I said made sense.

[HeyYou]

So long as it didn't take YEARS to travel a light year or 100...... I don't care how they manage it. :D I just want 'em to get it done. I would happily volunteer to go out on an explorer ship. That would be a blast.