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[QUOTE]Originally posted by Irishman: [QB] Being the long-time dork that I am, and having a fascination with spacecraft - fictional and factual - for as long as I remember knowing what a spaceship was, I'm always interested in seeing how far away we are technologically from the cool stuff we see on sci-fi. A quick rundown of current deployed space technologies reveals a depressingly unexciting level of advancement. However, upon closer examination, we can see several advancements on the horizon, with some even closer than that. I'll outline some for you, approaching the numerous problems with long-term deep space exploration. #1. The large distances between interplanetary bodies This problem is most easily rectified by increasing the speed at which our spacecraft move. At present, the fastest human spacecraft is moving at a speed of 150 km/sec. At this speed, a spacecraft could travel from Earth to Mars in 6 months. Boooooooooooooooring. There are several drive systems in development which could make that time laughable, in just a matter of decades. One of them is the ICAN II, a propulsion system which uses a matter-antimatter reaction to produce a top speed of 600 km/sec, reducing Earth-Mars trip time to 1.5 months. Faster still is the Beam Core drive, a particle accelerator which - mounted as a pair of nacelles - would allow top speeds of 40 % lightspeed. The VASIMR drive is a more conservative option (300 km/sec), but which has the added advantage of throttleability. It is a more efficient, elegant solution, which may ultimately be the way we go with the proposed Bush CEV project. #2. Radiation and particle protection during high-speed travel Protection from random space particles during high-speed flight is crucial, not a sci-fi luxury. A solution to this problem is possibly via a side-effect of a propulsion system called the M2P2, developed by a Dr. Winglee. It is, in effect, a solar sail without the physical sail. The system generates a large magnetic field quite like that of the earth, that can be projected out in front of the ship to deflect particles in the craft's travel path. A targeting system that could evolve into one fast enough to counter all incoming particles may already be seen in the MTAS (Multiple target acquisition system) found in the Apache Longbow. The current MTAS allows the Longbow to acquire and fire upon 8 targets simultaneously, deploying a varying number of munitions to the targets. It is not inconceivable, that given the advancement in computing speeds, an MTAS capable of acquiring and engaging hundreds of targets per clock cycle could be developed. This should be sufficient for applications in all but the fastest speeds. #3. The long-term detrimental effects of zero-gravity This problem has vexed us for as long as we've been thinking about it. Rotational artificial gravity has its own health problems (chiefly the gradient from head to foot and slightly off-plumb effects on the human body), so the problem needs to be solved in another way. The Podkletnov device, first observed in 1992, has been shown by NASA scientists to be unreliable in a vacuum. This does not preclude its use in spacecraft, however. The Podkletnov device can be developed into one system which both provides smooth, strong artificial gravity field, as well as an inertial-dampening field to counter the effects of rapid acceleration and deceleration in space AND aircraft. #4. Those damn solar panels!! This is a power problem. Relying on solar power for space travel is like relying on wind power to ply modern sea trade routes. By simply switching to a nuclear isotope power system, we not only lose those damn ugly solar panels, we increase available power onboard ship by orders of magnitude. Whereas now files transmitted from the Mars Lander are transmitted in a rate measured in kilobytes/sec, an isotope power supply would allow transfer speeds of megabytes/sec. A fission reactor would increase available power by more orders of magnitude, allowing for longer and more rapid communications. Of course, work on fusion and matter-antimatter reactors is being done, and may yield more dramatic results by century's end. #5. Hull or component damage from large bodies or large energy applications This calls for highly-powerful shielding systems. The answer has been in front of us all this time. We can direct the travel paths of high-energy, relativistic particles - even antimatter - through the effective use of magnetic field interaction. In fact, the basic theory of the Penning Trap allows us to store antimatter in bottles using these fields. We have even considered using it to direct higher-energy drive exhaust away from the metal surface of an Orion spacecraft, thus elimintating the need to replace erosive plating.By applying this theory to the protection of the outer hull of a ship, we can administer a localized, powerful magnetic field to the area which needs protection, which would redirect a particle on a collision course harmlessly away. This administration, on a larger shipwide scale, could protect from the results of nearby explosions or energy applications. Of course, for those of us for whom only the fastest will do: There is the Alcubierre-Loup Warp Drive. Fernando Loup thinks he has resolved the immense power requirements of the Miguel Alcubierre Warp Drive of the mid-90s, and has come to America to cooperate with physicists on creating applications and technologies to his theories. He is quite confident in his interpretation of hyperspace as a 3-brane in nature. [/QB][/QUOTE]
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