posted on May, 7 2004 @ 10:48 AM
You heard it here first, NASA:
it's not quite so difficult to store anti-matter
Seriously, would you want to take a ride in a starship that was powered by antimatter, knowing that a picosecond flux in the magnetic containment
would mean that you became interstellar dust?
Re: the edge of the galaxy. Sublight travel is never going to be practical for long distances - the only way the human race could expand beyond the
Sol system would be vast arkships, carrying enough people to maintain a viable society for the generations-long trip, or in cryogenic stasis.
Interstellar probes will never be a reasonable investment.
Realistically, therefore, the only way we are going to be able explore our galaxy is through FTL technology - and that, unfortunately, is where it all
falls apart. Negative energy could stretch the wormholes present in the quantum foam (theoretically), but it would be a random trip... which leaves
us with stretching spacetime (warp drive), or travel via othe dimensions (hyperspace). Star Trek or Star Wars, take your pick and place yours
bets...
In the medium future, I would suggest fusion drives as the next big thing - ion drives, from what I understand, are incapable of producing enough
thrust to propel worthwhile loads at worthwhile accelerations. Fusion, however - using deuterium and He3, from memory - is clean, reasonably cheap
and highly efficient.
Thoughts?