Starship Enterprise could be a reality by 2032, engineer says

reply to post by big_BHOY

The only way that a 'spaceship' should even be considered would be if Fusion or better was available as a means of propulsion.

What about fission? Nuclear fission rockets are almost as good as fusion, and much closer to reality.

Nuclear salt-water rocket
Fission-fragment rocket
Nuclear pulse propulsion

reply to post by Snoopy1978

Ironic, not to say hypocritical, of you to call upon proven science vs theory to ridicule someone (ion drive proponents). How's the unproven, iron age supersticious woo you champion daily working out? Want to discuss objective, scientific fact and principles while blindly accepting faith-based religion? Want to have your cake and eat it too and not get called on it? Good luck on that.

What an ass. Are you seriously going to take a cheapshot at my religious beliefs simply because i would rather put money towards proving theoretical science which would be better in the long run? What a petulant little child you are! Yes i believe in Yeshua/God, get over it, which has nothing to do with this topic thank you!.

reply to post by lonewolf19792000

And what about gravity? Humans cannot stay out in the void indefinately without gravity, our bodies are not made for long periods of weightlessness. The issues with gravity/anti-gravity still need to be solved. All this seems like wishful thinking to me.

The solution is quite simple - make the ship rotate for artificial gravity.

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000

Originally posted by PurpleChiten

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000

Originally posted by namehere
reply to post by lonewolf19792000

 

What is so funny about ion drives? they already exist and have been used in one space probe and are being further developed by NASA as we speak.

here and here

Because they are slow? Why keep shoving money into a project that already works but could soon be replaced by actual "warp"?

Right now it's impossible to travel lightspeed because of infinite mass, so you have to go faster than light which tachyons can do and tachyons also phase shift which if i remember correctly watching something on the science channel, helps solve the infinite mass problem.

By the time they get the ship built, which the ion drive justifies, they may have made the breaktthrough for a faster propulsion but it won't do much good if they still have to build the ship, so it's easier to retrofit than it is to build from scratch

And what about gravity? Humans cannot stay out in the void indefinately without gravity, our bodies are not made for long periods of weightlessness. The issues with gravity/anti-gravity still need to be solved. All this seems like wishful thinking to me.

dunno, I don't work for NASA :/
wishful thinking is the beginning of all great quests

reply to post by PurpleChiten

dunno, I don't work for NASA :/
wishful thinking is the beginning of all great quests

Well as Maslo suggested you could spin the ship to create a limited version of artificial gravity, but in the long term that might not be feasible.

If you think about the Earth and it's magnetosphere, the Earths molten iron/nickel core spins inside the Earth which generates starship Earth's own personal electromagnetic shields which is the magentosphere. That being said i wonder if it would be possible to create gravity using some type of dynamo spinning in the cente rof the ship to generate artifical gravity?

even at light speed it will take us YEARS to reach anywhere... least 20.

And even if we could make warp 4.5 / 6 like the original uss did, its just not "useful" to have "generations" exploring the space.

Just get some self replicating tiny robots, that get to a planet, reproduce, send offspring to "colonize" other systems while the first guys explore it... faster, and dont need generations of humans.

Now if we discovered something, like a more advanced civilization, I'm pretty sure our diplomats could negotiate their technology, and out of nowhere we'd be traveling with alien technology making our "entreprise" primitive and obsolete - and of course a huge waste of money.

Also if we encounter a more advance species with those robots, dont worry about having a ship capable to go meet those aliens, they would come to us - for bad or worse.

(inside gamer's joke: As long as we dont find the Reapers lol but Turians would be fine lol)

reply to post by big_BHOY


indeed ion drives will most likely be pushed aside by better means of propulsion but i never said ion drives were the best choice, just that its interesting and has certain benefits in developing.

Soo, if i incase a ship in a warpbubble and propel
faster then light...I will end up in the future..

WHAT if i somehow create a tube, connecting
A and B and go in that tube..A wormhole...
Is that too getting me to the future?

reply to post by elevatedone

"The only obstacles to us doing it are the limitations we place on our collective imagination," he enthused.

No, the limitation is the REASON for building it.
NASA doesn't just build spaceships because they are "cool"....there must be a mission profile. You'd think an engineer would realize that you build a ship for a mission profile, not the other way around. He should have put forward the NEED for such a ship, and what role it would fill.

So, going about it backwards, I'd think this would fit the niche of having a movable space station (using the ion drive), to then do further planetside work in the solar system. His 20 year timeline is complete fantasy. Sure, we have the tech, but we'd also need the funding, commitment, and reason to do so, and that's all going to take more than 20 years I'd wager.

Such a thing would also require a "spacedock" to be built first (can't put the cart before the horse)...to build it in space.

reply to post by elevatedone


Yes, it can be built.
All we need is a lot of money, and shuttle stuff/parts up to orbit, where it could be built.
But.. the current world economy does not look helpful at this time.
:-(

reply to post by Gazrok

No, the limitation is the REASON for building it. NASA doesn't just build spaceships because they are "cool"....there must be a mission profile. You'd think an engineer would realize that you build a ship for a mission profile, not the other way around. He should have put forward the NEED for such a ship, and what role it would fill.

Don't you think that statement contradicts itself just abit?

You are saying that there bis no reason to do such things or build the tech? But there is right?

Have you been complaining about the new stealth jets or bombers? The new UAV's being built? The new missles and bombs being built and all the other crap that defence is spending money on that we have no need for in this day and age???

I would rather see 1 Trillion $$ spent on sceince than the same amount spent on useless military budgets that are backed by people that are just paranoid...

It's sad to see the state of mind of the people that control our money and budgets.... It's more than sad it's an absolute disgrace..

If I were to look back on this in 100 years I would call it a low point of humanity... lets just hope things don't get worse...


People on this site talk about aliens and invasion etc, well I wouldnt' blame a superior species for thinking we are idiots...

The leaders of this day and age are exactly that.... IDIOTS!!!!



Expect US!! HK007

reply to post by Gazrok


Please tell me you CANT find any reasons...?!?!?

I could spill 100s of reasons..
and for each one i could come up with
sidetracks that would give even MORE
reasons...!!

But as allways...
"President to Military: Can we make millions of this in one hour?"
"Military to President: No"
"President: Then stuff it"

reply to post by Gazrok


For someone like George W bush to be elected 2x over and be president for 8 years sickens me.... that guy was an absolute idiot.... I seriously believe be was mentally retarded..., or if not he lacked the IQ to work in a call center let a lone be the president of a country...

He ran the US into the ground.....

It will never recover from the damage he or his adviser's did to your country....

I have no problem with American people but the government there is screwed up.... It has a superiority complex that means nothing to the rest of the world....

Originally posted by lonewolf19792000
reply to post by PurpleChiten

 

dunno, I don't work for NASA :/
wishful thinking is the beginning of all great quests

Well as Maslo suggested you could spin the ship to create a limited version of artificial gravity, but in the long term that might not be feasible.

If you think about the Earth and it's magnetosphere, the Earths molten iron/nickel core spins inside the Earth which generates starship Earth's own personal electromagnetic shields which is the magentosphere. That being said i wonder if it would be possible to create gravity using some type of dynamo spinning in the cente rof the ship to generate artifical gravity?

possible... of course unless they start building it, it won't matter what they COULD do. Just about anything can be retrofitted when the technology catches up with the purpose and when the purpose arises, the search for the technology arises. There has to be a starting point, maybe this is it.

Originally posted by Miccey
Soo, if i incase a ship in a warpbubble and propel
faster then light...I will end up in the future..

WHAT if i somehow create a tube, connecting
A and B and go in that tube..A wormhole...
Is that too getting me to the future?

Traveling to the future is easy, just take a nap.
Traveling to the past is where the real challenge is

Originally posted by tomten
reply to post by elevatedone

 

Yes, it can be built.
All we need is a lot of money, and shuttle stuff/parts up to orbit, where it could be built.
But.. the current world economy does not look helpful at this time.
:-(

Not a problem
voices.yahoo.com...

The 1%-ers have plenty, and this a great way to get them to part with it

Originally posted by Havick007
reply to post by Gazrok

 

For someone like George W bush to be elected 2x over and be president for 8 years sickens me.... that guy was an absolute idiot.... I seriously believe be was mentally retarded..., or if not he lacked the IQ to work in a call center let a lone be the president of a country...

He ran the US into the ground.....

It will never recover from the damage he or his adviser's did to your country....

I have no problem with American people but the government there is screwed up.... It has a superiority complex that means nothing to the rest of the world....

Amen, Amen and AMEN!!!
There was a time when I wouldn't perpetuate a kid's "dream" if he was in special ed, had extreme learning disabilities and said his dream was to someday be President of the United States, but Dubya proved me wrong, even the dumbest, least capable person in the world is not only capable of being president, they can serve two terms. ...

just a side note, technically, he wasn't elected either time, he was "appointed". He lost the popular vote so his skull and crossbones buddies vaulted him in anyway

reply to post by Havick007

You are saying that there bis no reason to do such things or build the tech? But there is right?

Have you been complaining about the new stealth jets or bombers? The new UAV's being built? The new missles and bombs being built and all the other crap that defence is spending money on that we have no need for in this day and age???

I would rather see 1 Trillion $$ spent on sceince than the same amount spent on useless military budgets that are backed by people that are just paranoid...

It's sad to see the state of mind of the people that control our money and budgets.... It's more than sad it's an absolute disgrace..

If I were to look back on this in 100 years I would call it a low point of humanity... lets just hope things don't get worse...


People on this site talk about aliens and invasion etc, well I wouldnt' blame a superior species for thinking we are idiots...

The leaders of this day and age are exactly that.... IDIOTS!!!!

Let me clarify....

NASA and the Government need reasons.

I'm all for doing so just for the scientific exploration, etc., but are we all willing to pay for it too?

Yes, I can complain about a big military buildup that seems completely unnecessary except to line the pockets of big defense, but that still doesn't change the fact that for NASA to scrap existing plans and build a USS Enterprise, there would have to be a pressing reason to THEM to do so.,,and the engineer didn't put forth that reason. It all revolves around fitting the mission, not building a craft and then justifying reasons for doing so. The craft also has to be designed with the mission in mind. While I'd love to see it, we also have to inject some realism here, and admit that the only reason they'd build it, is because it would be the best solution to a problem, something that needs to be done.

Originally posted by elevatedone

An ambitious engineer is delighting Trekkies everywhere with detailed plans for a full-size, functional Starship Enterprise that he believes could be up and running in 20 years. With his just-launched website, Build The Enterprise, site curator BTE Dan is lobbying hard for an ion-powered Enterprise that could be built with current technology. "Star Trek" fans can drool longingly over ship specs or this 3-D animated video which dissects the 0.3 mile saucer section of the Enterprise to reveal a rotating-magnet gravity wheel. BTE is trying to convince Congress to beam the funds to NASA, even going so far as to suggest budget and tax revisions to make it happen. "The only obstacles to us doing it are the limitations we place on our collective imagination," he enthused.

msn article

This is way cool, IMO.

My first thoughts are, would they build it on Earth and it could fly into space or would they build these in space?

Do you think we'll, or our children will ever see these?

edit on 13-5-2012 by elevatedone because: (no reason given)

Not bad.

He got the artificial gravity all wrong.

It looks like he needs some tech assist.

reply to post by Gazrok

Let me clarify.... NASA and the Government need reasons. I'm all for doing so just for the scientific exploration, etc., but are we all willing to pay for it too?

I understand what you are saying and your reasoning behind it... I really do

But are they the right reasons??


What reason do we have for having billions of $$ of nuclear weapons, state of the art fighter jets, military tech etc etc etc etc...

The list is endless....

What reasons do we have except for those given to us by the government and military in power... they have jobs to protect just like all of us...??!!??

So of course they are going to make every reason possible to keep them in a job..



The real truth is that all that money and funding can go to science and technology that benefits all humankind as a whole and not just the military of one particular county (The US) I'm sorry and I know you are from the US but you will never understand 100% until you have an outside perspective of your country and it's government and military.

I admit I used to look up and wish my country was like yours over 10 years ago but alot has changed since then...

I have nothing against american citizens or people in general but I have alot against American politics and military/government and many of the American companies that make profit from WAR!!

They are the policy makers and the ones with all the money and control......


You need an outside perspective!

we also have to inject some realism here, and admit that the only reason they'd build it, is because it would be the best solution to a problem, something that needs to be done.

That frame of mind and type of thinking is why we are so screwed now.....