JediConsularAD Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 I am just wondering if you were to create a ship like the milenium falcon (or otherwise) IN outer space then surely it would work, of course we would have different technolgy but if space is zero gravity then all you would really need is something to propel the ship. I was just wondering if this would work and i am no scientest so i dunno. i obviously understand that if the ship was to enter an atmosphere it would just fall freely towards the ground, i think. Please say what you think bout this. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
El Sitherino Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 I don't see how it's not possible. All you'd need are various thrusters in perfectly placed positions to allow you complete free movement. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Pho3nix Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 I sure hope so. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
TK-8252 Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 <_< Hyperspace is impossible. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 <_< Hyperspace is impossible. According to everything we happen to know right now it is. Eventually we may discover a new technology that makes it (or something similar, like wormholes) possible. Everything I know about the human spirit makes me believe that starships will someday be a reality. I just don't see it happening in any of our lifetimes, however. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Master_Ginn Posted August 7, 2005 Share Posted August 7, 2005 I'd say you could make anything into a spaceship and it will work as long as you have propulsion. Unlee of course there are aerodynamics in space. I think the problem right now would be the actual getting it into space. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ChAiNz.2da Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 You'd need a renewable power source as well, but considering alot of the "basic" underlying factors have been designed, developed and implemented in yesteryear's and today's space stations... it's not a far off idea.... Just tons of cash and alot of politics Real interesting read on space stations and some of the factors that an actual "ship" would have to confront: http://science.howstuffworks.com/space-station.htm Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Katarn07 Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 The unrealistic part of Warp and Hyperdrives of most sci fi is the concept of relativity. Planet of the Apes (the original version) touches on it a bit but knowing nothing of science, one might not understand what they're talking about. The book goes alot deeper into what is going on but again, without knowledge of science, it still will seem far fetched and confusing. I actually never understood what even happened in that movie until I learned about relativity in Physics. To my understanding, it's impossible to do the things they do in Star Wars and Star Trek because of relativity. Here's an example of what I mean using a generic situation for a fictional sci fi story: Say the heroine is trapped on some remote planet parsecs away from her allies, awaiting execution. The rest of the gang just dealt with some trouble of their own and are off to save the damsel in distress. They hop in their starship and engage the hyperdrive to get their faster. What happens? They get there in time and save the day? To my understanding, this is not true. While they do get their faster at lightspeed rather than normal travel, the world around them ages faster. Time slows down for you at lightspeed. What seem like hours to you are days outside of your ship. The heroes arrive at the planet but they're too late. The heroine has been killed. And same thing would've happened to them if they had not travelled at lightspeed because it woulda taken them longer to get there. Please correct me if I'm wrong because it still boggles my mind. I know it's dependant on how long they are travelling at lightspeed and how far they must travel, but this could happen if they did have to travel a very long distance in a very long time, no? Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
lil_dude Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 Of course it would be possible, would be much smarter to build it in space like they're doinbg with this space station, that way you don't need engines and huge amounts of fuel to blast it into space. Nuclear fusion is one way they could go with space ships, but it is dangerous, only lasts about 30 years but it is very cheap(after you build it) and low maitenence. Maybe if they ever discover nuclear fission that will be the unending power we need. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediConsularAD Posted August 8, 2005 Author Share Posted August 8, 2005 This was interesting and i didnt mean about the hyperdrive, i know that is very unprobable but it was good to know so thanks. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET Warrior Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 Say the heroine is trapped on some remote planet parsecs away from her allies, awaiting execution. The rest of the gang just dealt with some trouble of their own and are off to save the damsel in distress. They hop in their starship and engage the hyperdrive to get their faster. What happens? They get there in time and save the day? To my understanding, this is not true. While they do get their faster at lightspeed rather than normal travel, the world around them ages faster. That's basically correct, the faster you go, the slower time is. Were they to ACTUALLY reach the speed of light, time theoretically would stop, and it doesn't matter how long they were traveling at lightspeed, time would be moving at essentially infinite speed compared to them. Of course, traveling at the speed of light would also mean you would shrink down to where you were essentially a point object as viewed from an outside reference frame... Relativity is crazy. Unlee of course there are aerodynamics in space. No real Aerodynamics per se in space, there is of course inertia and momentum, but there's no air resistance or drag. Most maneuvers that involve spinning the craft around an axis could actually be accomplished with reaction wheels, you wouldn't need any real propulsion, but you WOULD need it to change direction of velocity... It's possible, but not in the immediate future... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ZBomber Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 You don't honestly think George Lucas made up the story of Star Wars, do you? Because he didn't.... oh no, he did not. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Astrotoy7 Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 I dont even care if they make starships like those in SW or not, I just wanna ride in the damn space shuttle(if they fix it so it works right) space shuttle = cool IMO mtfbwya Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Lynk Former Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 People thought breaking the speed of sound was impossible... Nothing really is truely impossible, however I don't see Starships as we know them in Star Wars or Star Trek will be possible until at least another few hundred years. In the meantime it'll be a lot of trial and error and deaths. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Leviathan Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 But such projects would cost a fortune !... Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Gaarni Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 But, if you reach the speed of light, you'll go the speed of light, right? It may take 1 year for the crew to reach the closest star, but it will still take 4.25 to reach it in reality. So, in a way, how the crew perceives the travel time is irrelevant as they actually travelled 4.25 years. What if they then went twice the speed? If they could go fast enough, they could make it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET Warrior Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 But, if you reach the speed of light, you'll go the speed of light, right? It may take 1 year for the crew to reach the closest star, but it will still take 4.25 to reach it in reality. So, in a way, how the crew perceives the travel time is irrelevant as they actually travelled 4.25 years.) It's not completely irrelevant, because they will only have experienced 1 year. IE they are only 1 year older than when they started, while everyone ELSE is 4.25 years older. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
JediConsularAD Posted August 8, 2005 Author Share Posted August 8, 2005 ok this is some deep technology and stuff ( dunno the technical term). So basically going the speed of light would mean you slow down time for you, but i have a question, would we handle those speeds. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
ET Warrior Posted August 8, 2005 Share Posted August 8, 2005 Well, assuming the acceleration wasn't so fast as to exert too much pressure on you, there's no reason you couldn't handle it. Though of course there is the problem of shrinking as you approach the speed of light, I am honestly not knowledgable enough on the subject to guarantee that would or would not have detrimental affects. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Sabretooth Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 We already have spaceships, right? They're just oddly shaped compared to Star Wars and are incapable of hyperspace and laser weaponry. I bet that rusty Apollo 11 can blow the Falcon's socks off any time! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Jan Gaarni Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 It's not completely irrelevant, because they will only have experienced 1 year. IE they are only 1 year older than when they started, while everyone ELSE is 4.25 years older. Well, yeah, obviously. But my point is, if it takes 4 years, it takes 4 years, seen from the outside. If it takes 20 minutes to travel 4.25 lightyears distance, it takes 20 minutes to travel 4.25 lightyears, regardless how the crew perceives it. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
edlib Posted August 9, 2005 Share Posted August 9, 2005 The problem with it is this: If the crew on board the spaceship knows that they have to travel 1 light year to get there, they are not going to turn their engines off until one year has passed for them. Unfortunately, due to time dilation, they have overshot the planet by quite a bit, and everybody they know has been dead for several millennia. If they calculate their trip on distance alone, instead of the time it takes to get there, then the question is if their reaction times will be quick enough to slow them down once they reach their destination. Another problem is this: Getting an object of any mass at all up to relativistic speeds takes massive amounts of power that get exponentially larger with each increment. Getting an object of any size that a human could live in to near-light speeds could easily take far more power than is available in the entire universe. Factor in the problem that with any propulsion system we currently have available to us today, having more power means having more mass to store, transport, and make use of that power system. And that means needing even more power to just push that mass. Relativity isn't something that we are going to be needing to worry about for a long time. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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