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View Full Version : When the world ends, who gets to leave?



Hopeless
2016-08-26, 10:43 AM
So watched this When The World Ends, Who Gets To Leave? (https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nKRhxrhFMeI) on youtube and it raises an interesting question.

How do you think this would be handled?

For example say we find a way to enhance space travel allowing a ship to travel from the Moon to Mars in say just over a week and back would a Lunar Colony be vital to such an endeavour?

Assuming for now any world or satellite in the solar system can be reached and eventually colonised provided they can eventually achieve self sustenance at some stage how would you see this handled?

So maybe an orbital colony somewhere in orbit around Jupiter where the gravity counters the problems of zero-g has on the human body?

Underwater colonies?

Is a generation ship essential to travel to another star system or only after those nano sized space probes can reach a suitable star system and send word back that there's an inhabitable world present?

What else needs to be addressed?

gomipile
2016-08-26, 01:19 PM
So maybe an orbital colony somewhere in orbit around Jupiter where the gravity counters the problems of zero-g has on the human body?


Huh?

By zero-g, I assume you mean free fall, and all orbits are by definition free fall. Granted, you can have tidal effects within a spacecraft, but I don't think you implied anything about those.

For reference, the strength of Earth's gravity at the altitude of the International Space Station is over 80% of the strength on the ground. The station and all its contents are in free fall, is all.

Spojaz
2016-08-26, 02:39 PM
I don't think a generation ship would be a good idea in any case. Earth to Mars in a week is around 5 times faster than the fastest man made object, and a hundred times faster than rockets alone can achieve. If you got your ship moving at the speed you suggest, towards the nearest solar system, that trip would take 3.4 thousand years. If the vessel is capable of supporting life for as long as King Tut's tomb was closed, why do you need a destination? Might as well just stay in space.