SciFi Realism
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SciFi Realism
ikrase on Mon Mar 17, 2008 7:50 am
OK, can anyone say..
WOuld you be able to see spaceships at realistic ranges?
What would a laser sound like in the atmosphere if powerfull enough to be a weapon?
WOuld you be able to see spaceships at realistic ranges?
What would a laser sound like in the atmosphere if powerfull enough to be a weapon?
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SCI FI Realism
Art Wallace on Tue Mar 18, 2008 12:43 pm
I am not a space scientist but I will still make a comment. There is a very interesting book that explains a number of these questions by Robert Zubrin called Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization. Zubrin explains the logistics, cost, economic benefits, and time line for development of most things you might do in space. The engineering and physics and economics seem to be realistic when I ask physicists, engineerings, and economists about what he is presenting. He explains why you might be interested in going to the moon, or Mars. What it would do to our economy, science, culture. And more importantly, what the effect of not exploring space would be. He also wrote "The Case for Mars: The Plan to Settle the Red Planet and Why We Must" which explains how to go to Mars for only $50 billion dollars (a lot less than other things we do commonly).
He discusses UFO's and what would be required for traveling a fraction of the speed of light to another star. The first point is that it would take you about a year to accelerate to near the speed of light, it would then take you 5 or 10 years to get to the star of interest, then it would take a year to slow down. The rocket ship would put out a very, very bright flare in the night sky for a year as it slowed down. You would therefore not have a mysterious ship landing in a corn field in Nebraska only to be seen by one person, but rather, a very bright spot, getting brighter and brighter as it got closer much like a commet for a year prior to the visit.
The visitors would then go on Leno, and Colbert, and John Stewart, and Letterman for the years that it would take to find and manufacture and pay for enough fuel to fly home. Most likely, they could not afford to go home.
Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization. by Robert Zubrin, very interesting discussion of these topics.
He discusses UFO's and what would be required for traveling a fraction of the speed of light to another star. The first point is that it would take you about a year to accelerate to near the speed of light, it would then take you 5 or 10 years to get to the star of interest, then it would take a year to slow down. The rocket ship would put out a very, very bright flare in the night sky for a year as it slowed down. You would therefore not have a mysterious ship landing in a corn field in Nebraska only to be seen by one person, but rather, a very bright spot, getting brighter and brighter as it got closer much like a commet for a year prior to the visit.
The visitors would then go on Leno, and Colbert, and John Stewart, and Letterman for the years that it would take to find and manufacture and pay for enough fuel to fly home. Most likely, they could not afford to go home.
Entering Space: Creating a Spacefaring Civilization. by Robert Zubrin, very interesting discussion of these topics.
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Re: SciFi Realism
ikrase on Fri Apr 04, 2008 2:50 pm
Cool. 
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