Last relic of humanity

[aap1966]

I have, I suspect like most Pelicans, spent the day amazed at what Space X has accomplished, not only in what they have achieved, but in how they have achieved it and in the costs being an order of magnitude less than the public sector.

But....

....has anyone considered that if we don't colonise other planets or systems, then the very last relics of humanity will probably be the Voyager probes, the Apollo landers, and a small red sports car with a space suited mannequin orbiting the sun until it goes nova.

It'll be quite a puzzle for some astronomer archaeologist in 10 million years.

[DanielDudley]

What, Me Worry ?

Alfred E Neuman

[KFC911]

I'll defer to Tabby on this one...

[flatbutt]

Originally Posted by aap1966

I have, I suspect like most Pelicans, spent the day amazed at what Space X has accomplished, not only in what they have achieved, but in how they have achieved it and in the costs being an order of magnitude less than the public sector.

But....

....has anyone considered that if we don't colonise other planets or systems, then the very last relics of humanity will probably be the Voyager probes, the Apollo landers, and a small red sports car with a space suited mannequin orbiting the sun until it goes nova.

It'll be quite a puzzle for some astronomer archaeologist in 10 million years.

The writers of Star Trek certainly have. Starship Voyager found an old truck in space once.

[BK911]

Videos of keeping up with the kartrashions.

[sammyg2]

What difference does it make?

[Evans, Marv]

I always thought it was supposed to be a random scattering of porcelain toilets.

[scottmandue]

Colonizing other planets is a pipe dream... it is a scyfi fantasy... sorry all you Star Trek fans if you look at the facts, how deadly and dangerous outer-space is, how far away a reasonable planet that might be if we can find it.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/modeledbehavior/2017/05/06/sorry-nerds-but-colonizing-other-planets-is-not-a-good-plan/#299a794551e6

[kach22i]

Originally Posted by scottmandue

Colonizing other planets is a pipe dream... it is a scyfi fantasy... sorry all you Star Trek fans if you look at the facts, how deadly and dangerous outer-space is, how far away a reasonable planet that might be if we can find it.

https://www.forbes.com/sites/modeledbehavior/2017/05/06/sorry-nerds-but-colonizing-other-planets-is-not-a-good-plan/#299a794551e6

What?

You never heard of folding space, warp bubbles and wormholes?

https://www.space.com/20881-wormholes.html


NASA discusses its warp drive research, prepares to create a warp bubble in the lab
https://www.extremetech.com/extreme/164326-nasa-discusses-its-warp-drive-research-prepares-to-create-a-warp-bubble-in-the-lab

[arcsine]

Forgetting all the movies and TV shows which portray us humans easily and effortlessly bounding between the stars, lets now look at some of the realities.

First and foremost, we are humans and humans will build and staff any vehicle we plan on to use to travel to the next home once we have killed this one. Humans make mistakes. Lots of them. Spacecraft are very complex pieces of equipment with little room for error in either design or implementation. One of the most significant achievements of us humans was the Apollo program which entailed sustained space flight for less than two weeks for three people. The CLOSEST star is 4 light years away. Say, for sake of discussion, we can perfect warp drive and move close to the speed of light. Is there any reasonable belief that we can actually make a spacecraft possible of warp travel that would safely provide a habitable environment, not experience any structural or electrical failures for the dozens (hundreds?) of brave people that would be colonizing the next world for a period of years? Factor in the requirements of finding a habitable planet that natively has narrow temperature fluctuations, abundant water and an oxygen source and the search for that habitable planet becomes much, much broader (read: farther away). One thing that must be considered is that we have no clue whatsoever on how to create sustained warp travel (if it is even possible) nor do we have the slightest clue what is inside a wormhole (if they exist) and what engineering would be required to make safe travel through a wormhole possible

No, we need to come to grips with the reality that life on Earth will end and the full extent of our legacy will be Voyager. Best case is the sun goes nova/red dwarf in 5 billion years. Earth, Moon, Tesla spacecraft and most of the planets are fried in the process. The reality is the Andromeda galaxy will collide with the Milky Way galaxy in about 4 billion years. It is postulated that there is so much empty space in a galaxy that this could happen and we would not even know it other than some celestial pyrotechnics as the super massive black holes at the center of the two galaxy's collide. As we are not that far from the center of the Milky Way, I find it hard to believe we would not be affected in that collision (and resultant ginormous explosion) this would create.

I, for one, am comfortable with that. Our existence on Earth is built on the remnants of multiple nova, supernova and rotating binary star supernovas events. We are the leftovers from whatever stars, planets, life, civilizations that were cooked in the process. The least we could do is give back the dust so something else has a chance.

Just my opinion.

[scottmandue]

Originally Posted by kach22i

What?

You never heard of folding space, warp bubbles and wormholes?

Of course I have, very cool but all theory, and even if we find a wormhole and manage to fly into it how do we know we will survive the trip? Or where we will end up on the other side? Perhaps in one of those 11 parallel universes?

[livi]

When the aliens eventually set down on our planet they will meet Keith Richards and a handful of cockrouches. The former being occupied with smoking the latter.

[nota]

Originally Posted by aap1966

I have, I suspect like most Pelicans, spent the day amazed at what Space X has accomplished, not only in what they have achieved, but in how they have achieved it and in the costs being an order of magnitude less than the public sector.

But....

....has anyone considered that if we don't colonise other planets or systems, then the very last relics of humanity will probably be the Voyager probes, the Apollo landers, and a small red sports car with a space suited mannequin orbiting the sun until it goes nova.

It'll be quite a puzzle for some astronomer archaeologist in 10 million years.

sorry
BUT WE CAN'T GO NOVA
as that requires two stars one a white dwarf very close to each other
a super nova is out also as the sun is too small

red giant is the best our future offers
and that may not reach the car as it missed mars and will be out near ceres
about the middle of the asteroid belt

[SCadaddle]

The dude could have at least tried twisting the arm of Porsche for funding by threatening to send a 996 or 986 with a bad IMS bearing into orbit!

[Por_sha911]

Of course there are those folks who believe that the Earth will be destroyed and then a new Heaven and Earth will exist for all eternity. Seems to me that it takes less faith to believe this than to think that someday humans will get along without trying to steal kill and destroy.

[Tobra]

Keeping up with the Kartrashians, HA!

[aap1966]

Originally Posted by arcsine

Forgetting all the movies and TV shows which portray us humans easily and effortlessly bounding between the stars, lets now look at some of the realities.

..... Humans make mistakes. Lots of them. Spacecraft are very complex pieces of equipment with little room for error in either design or implementation. ..... Is there any reasonable belief that we can actually make a spacecraft possible of warp travel that would safely provide a habitable environment, not experience any structural or electrical failures for the dozens (hundreds?)........

I accept the limits of physics, but I'm very cautious about accepting the limits of engineering.

Imagine if a Kalahari bushman 5000 years ago said to his mate "I bet one day man will build a giant hut from melted stone that weighs as much as 165 elephants, that will move 600 people at a time around the world in a day, flying above the breathable air and the weather, while those inside hold conversations with people on the ground".

Just because we can't conceive the engineering now, doesn't make it impossible.

[Pazuzu]

Originally Posted by nota

sorry
BUT WE CAN'T GO NOVA

Well, not with that attitude we won't...

[Pazuzu]

Look here, Musk is a super villain, he lives in a lair, he fires interplanetary rockets, he gives flamethrower to his henchmen (all 10,000 of them...), he dates and gets dumped by the hottest actress on the planet...

So, when he goes a *step too far* and his robots take over the world or whatever, don't you think he would have thought ahead and put a freaking ESCAPE CAR in space??? One quick rocket escape pod up there, and he's cruising away from the Robot Wars safe and sound...with a 100 mile range

[GH85Carrera]

Yea, voyager will be the last relic most likely. It is out of the solar system. It is one of the very fastest moving objects humanity has ever made and in several million years it will reach other solar systems. Most likely it will sail by unnoticed by any intelligent species.

The lunar objects will become tourist attractions in a few more decades or centuries. Likely looted and ruined, but we will have other objects on the moon and mars.

Humans are silly when they talk of "saving the planet" the planet will throw humans off with some extinction event and the earth will heal up and keep going for billions of years with no sign of humans but some weird fossils.