if we were to build a starship using current technology

if nasa and german scientist actually make a working hyperdrive what real tech would you think she would need to transport a crew to alpha centarii system.computers , food, weapons,ect.

A couple of km of nanotubing, ducttape and a big sticker with "SECOND STAR TO THE RIGHT" on.

[edit on 20-1-2006 by sanctum]

Quantum/optical based computing with a holographic memory storage. Quantum entagled communication's device for realtime communication's. Particle weapons. Enough food for atleast 10 years. Enough material to rebuild a new drive, just in case.

Well... some of it's almost real tech... if they get off they're arses and work harder on it.

sensor systems flir and radar for close in radio and optical telescopes , top of the line optical cameras. 20 remote probes for surveying system. a crew of 100, life support would have to incluse a hydoponic farm settup for growing food. weapons several thel turrets a couple of dozen nukes at different sizes. maybe particle weapons if we have more advancements and possible rail guns . propulsion hyperdrive currently working on but sublight an manuvering i would say chemical rockets and or nuclear propulsion. size 1/4 mile in length. escape pods the russian capsules they use on space station soluy i know i spelled name wrong.


.

It's hyperdrive, right? So you don't have to hang around: you can come back next year. So I'd bring a semi full of Keyholes with quantum entanglement transponders and seed them around every rock Pluto size or larger for 20 light years in all directions.

On the follow up missions to habitable but uninhabited worlds? Seeds, animals in stasis, and crazed tribal survivalists, one-way Apollo capsules for the trips down.

Algae, bacteria and protozans for seeding uninhabital but transformable worlds.

For worlds with a pre-existing lower-class culture? SSTO landers with a helicopter for recon and a Jesus robe. Oops, already done here on Earth. But great minds run with the same wolves, no? Teach them peace and love and instill a deep, primal hatred for The Machine.

If we run into a culture equal to our own? Flip a coin: war or peace. Keep a nuke handy.

If we run into a more advanced culture than our own? Pray they are benevolent Gods this time. And run.

How about a way to navigate the damn thing. If you are going faster than light then you can't use the stars to obtain a position. How do you know where you are at, how far you have gone or when to stop?

Originally posted by Produkt
Quantum/optical based computing with a holographic memory storage. Quantum entagled communication's device for realtime communication's. Particle weapons. Enough food for atleast 10 years. Enough material to rebuild a new drive, just in case.

Well... some of it's almost real tech... if they get off they're arses and work harder on it.

Well, that must be the food you are talking about. We are no where near any of the other stuff.

Well, I think that it would be a cylindrical shaped ship, with acone in the front and 4 seperate spinning sections throughout the cylinder.
I figure it would be made out of a mixture of carbon nanotubes, steel, titanium for the main cylinder and the cone would be made of an outer layer of Polyyn (sp?) about 5ft thick, with various materials making up the inner layers.

Hydroponics, recreation areas, crew quarters.

radio, microwave and laser communication systems for close communications. Possible smaller FTL communication ships, like the runners of the ancient world.

Nuklear weapons, railguns, lasers, particle beams, missiles/rockets.

For sub-light, plasma rockets, or a VASIMIR like system.

Fiberoptics for computer connections.

Originally posted by Produkt
Quantum/optical based computing with a holographic memory storage. Quantum entagled communication's device for realtime communication's. Particle weapons. Enough food for atleast 10 years. Enough material to rebuild a new drive, just in case.

Well... some of it's almost real tech... if they get off they're arses and work harder on it.

true I am with you but I believe many of the things you say are allready in a working form in a prototype. holographic storage can be bought end 2006 , partical weapons are yet to be declassified but are allready working well before operation dessert storm ( soldiers cams ect were taken because of it they had footage of the weapons being used) quantum entagledment is also used in the first prototype systems of quantum computers and are also working it all needs a little fine tuning and an operation system / AI but yes allmost everything is there only the money isn;t there. and if the militairy doesn;t see a threath out there it wil not be build.

hmm...interesting thread.

How long would it take to get there and Back with hyperdrive engines???

It depends on what your point is to go there. I would assume the number one priority would be for Recon. I see no reason as to why it even has to be manned...How do we handle recon here? We use unmanned systems like Global Hawk, and are space probe that go to other planets are all unmanned...why should this be any different?
I'm not like "Frosty" as to where he thinks people dont belong in space. But it is more expensive, so I would need a reason. If we found intelligent life on a planet there then by all means, send people on the next inter-galactic spaceship.

But with no people you dont need to worry about food, water, health of people, and people things you would need to bring like exercise equipment, and other things...i'm just drawing a blank.
AI would be needed, but not in the form of an all powerful supercomputer. Dont get me wrong, you would need a supercomputer and a lot of hard drives or holographic drives, Since we can only communicate at the speed of light its impossible to send the data back to earth, so all of it would need to be stored on board, I think 100 petabytes should do, and thats if your looking at One solar system...If your planning on multiple systems then everything I said would have to go up relative to the number of solar systems we seek out.
I would have the craft kind of be like a mothership, in a sense. It would have around 50 satellites (probes) on board, and when ever there is a planet of interest where you want to study in greater detail then the ships scanners and cameras can do, send a sat. It would have all the sats main propulsion be ion thrusters, and have them not really on a star, they would have there own RTG. It would also have over a dozen landers, just in case you get some worlds that look really interesting.

The mission would take...well, lets say in take 1 year to get there, and one year back...then I would say a dozen years...which means a full decade of recon. Then after 10 straight years of tons of pics and info, the craft would start back up its hyperdrive engines and come back to earth...only then will we find out whether the mission was a failure or a success. I know its kind of a all eggs in one basket approach, but since we have no other ways for communication, I dont see any other way.

ok...now some questions.
Whats Quantum entagled communication?
Isn't a particle weapon a laser???
The point is a science mission, I dont think loading the ship with weapons is a smart move.
How far off is a quantum computer? and how much better are they then a normal computer?
and "MarkLuitzen", What threat?

The only item we don't currently have, is reliable hydroponics. Food and water will be the limiting factor. Triple redundant hydroponics would probably not be safe. Five of them might be about right. Only farmers need apply.

This is assuming that progress on propulsion moves right along, and is ready soon. Who knows, wait and see. Most predictions on propulsion breakthroughs somehow point to the year 2012. Odd how everything is pointing to the year 2012.

Originally posted by ZPE StarPilot
Odd how everything is pointing to the year 2012.

I agree...in fact, I'm planning on having another birthday on that exact same year! Coincidence...I think not.

but seriuosly...Whats hydroponics?

Growing plants without soil. Takes up less room, and you can get higher yield from them.

I like the post about navigation (astrogation). Can't use starlocks during hyperdrive activation- if the view outside conforms to what we know of physics. Inertial navigation probably also would not work. A triangulated network of Q-E transmitters could be used like GPS. Or you could point and shoot by shiptime stopwatch and starting bearing just like they did in the dark on World War One battleships.

There remains the problem of avoiding Warp Four impacts with millimeter size 'Stardust' (pun intended)...

Let's not forget the basics; coffee, guns and pudding.

Oh and frozen french bread pizzas. Sure it seems silly now but three hundred days into deep space and you'd kill for a stoufers french bread pizza.

Better take a couple of toaster ovens too come to think of it.

Also something to trade with aliens if we find life. Not the pizzas of course that's for the crew. It would have to be something that anyone from any planet could enjoy and would want to exchange goods and services for that hopefully would open up a long term dialogue and mutually beneficial relationship for all peoples concerned. So maybe legos or something.

Spiderj

Originally posted by Spiderj
Let's not forget the basics; coffee, guns and pudding.
Spiderj

As long as We don't hand out the MERs They might try to eat the heat packs

They might try to eat the heat packs

Well you know the old saying One man's heat pack is another man's chicken vindaloo.

Spiderj

But honestly, the new scientist article not withstanding we're very far off from being able to build anything truly space worthy.

IMO as always.

Originally posted by tomas
if nasa and german scientist actually make a working hyperdrive what real tech would you think she would need to transport a crew to alpha centarii system.computers , food, weapons,ect.

The answer to this topic is in your title...

We cant make a "starship" with our current technology.

[edit on 1/20/06 by HumptyDumpty]

Whats hydroponics?

Ok I know Zaphod already answered this, but I thought I could go into more detail.
Hydroponics is a system of groming plants, by instead of growing them in soil, growing them in nutrient rich water VIA putting the roots in the water.

Whats Quantum entagled communication?

Theoretically instintaneous communication, even from thousands of lightyears away. It's based on quantum entanglement of sub-atomic particles, it's how "quantum cloning" is done.

Isn't a particle weapon a laser???

No, a laser fires an intense beam of light.
A particle beam weapons fires an excited stream of atoms or sub-atomic particles.

The point is a science mission, I dont think loading the ship with weapons is a smart move.

So if some huge meteor gets close enough to hit it, and it does'nt detect it until it's right on top of it, it should'nt have the ability to blast the rock to Andromeda?

How far off is a quantum computer? and how much better are they then a normal computer?

A full fledged quantum computer, publicly known about, I'd have to say is 20 years off.
I don't know the numbers, but it make outr modern supercomputers look like simple calculators in terms of what it could do.

Originally posted by Mr101Hazardous

Originally posted by Spiderj
Let's not forget the basics; coffee, guns and pudding.
Spiderj

As long as We don't hand out the MREs

They might try to eat the heat packs

edit for MREs