What propulsion method is best for space travel in the future?

As we are speaking "future" propulsion.

Warpdrive and Quantum Jumpdrive.

originally posted by: Miccey
As we are speaking "future" propulsion.

Warpdrive and Quantum Jumpdrive.

You mean fictional propulsion.

a reply to: MaxNocerino7

If only we could make some of those.

In the future the cheapest will be the mantra, when we are mining and hauling large shipments from the asteroid belt we will want the cheapest method even if it takes a little longer for the journey to take place especially when we have a steady stream of delivery's or ore to receiving station's and refinery's in orbit, for delivery to the surface it will be the safest method we can come up with and likely the refined packages will be gravity dropped over designated regions were they will be captured for use planet side using a number of potential methods.

Fast travel however will probably begin quite old school in the form of reaction engines such as old fashioned rockets, if we can create a clean non radioactive engine we may even resort to using such a non radioactive super heat furnace to turn material from asteroids into plasma and use the resultant high pressure plasma as a rocket alternative - imagine crawling machines that would bore into the less valuable outer parts of an asteroid then super heat the material they extract and release it has a directional thrust acting like moving engines on the outside of an asteroid, by the time it got were it was going the only sign that such a system had been used (since the reactor engines would then presumably be off on there next job) would be a series of linear craters on the asteroids slightly smaller surface once it was in orbit were it could be used.
If the civilization that moved such asteroids into position was to vanish and then thousands and thousands of years later scientists tried to explain the strange linear craters and lines they would probably claim it was done by a slow moving smaller asteroid colliding with and then rolling along the surface of the larger asteroid moonlet they then had and come up with all manner of wacky and wonderful explanations leaving the little green man of the distant past out of the explanation, indeed it may even look like this.
The lines and small craters having been left by the engine as it crawled around the outside of the asteroid using it's vectored thrust from the vaporized material it extracted to control the asteroids flight and motion as it was moved into orbit around the target planet were it could be used.
cdn.sci-news.com...


If however we ever venture to other star systems our solution will be a compromise on size (especially if a manned mission - multi generation missions are likely if colonization is our goal) and speed.
So think for long duration flights to other solar systems hollowed out large asteroids (iron nickel asteroids have excellent shielding property's and if you have your mobile colony deep inside them they also provide a great deal of safety from surface impacts so long as there inherent structure is solid - you can also of course reinforce them from within).

If however someone ever find's a way to slow the Alcubierre drive back down since you can start the warp but stopping it is another matter then that may be a viable future solution.
Then again just maybe the Black Budget organizations of the US have been sitting on technology that would make all of this speculation look foolish especially if conspiracy theory's about a break away civilization are real.

None of the above , as none are feasible as long as Einstein's Theory of Relativity is in full swing .
However , cancelling all mass first ?
Could power it with flashlights.

infinite improbability drive

accept no coherent explainations

a reply to: MaxNocerino7

Missing from your list is the most practical method. And that is most surprising as it seems to be the main motive power of UFOs and orbs seen here near the surface of earth.

That method is the generation of a field around the object that reduces its mass to zero or nearly so. This feature is quite evident in many exhibitions of the capabilities of UFOs. It is a telling feature of such craft and is perhaps is openly displayed to us to show that that process is doable and negates any of our standard views on the limits of pure physics because it side-steps pure physics.

If the ETs wanted to keep their motive powers secret, they would need only throttled-down their craft's capabilities to match those of our aircraft. But they tend to flaunt their systems.

Our attempts to match such performance levels goes way back at least into the 1960s. So we may have somewhat attained the process perhaps with unmanned vehicles such as those we were recently allowed to see eluding F-18s, etc.

originally posted by: moebius

originally posted by: Miccey
As we are speaking "future" propulsion.

Warpdrive and Quantum Jumpdrive.

You mean fictional propulsion.

Warpdrive was in fiction yes. But the math supports it.
QET, Quantum Entangelment is very real...

a reply to: terriertail

Exactly. If a solar storm can reach the earth from the sun in 16 hours, some fusion projection seems to be needed for speed. The radiation though would have to be contained perhaps similar to how the eart is protected via our own magnetic field.

Thus occupants would be protected.

a reply to: MaxNocerino7

Propulsion in metal ships? I don't think so. Our baby step there...it's all we know...

None we know of, made of ingredients and unknown substances can't be made on Earth, with substances and processes from other places that we've not discovered yet.

A gravitional pull or draw to dialed in stellar locations...

*Think about it

a reply to: dubiousatworst

Beautiful answer. Thank you so much!!!!

What propulsion method is best for space travel in the future?

One you haven't heard of yet, and several more after that.

Good news thanks to the Epstein Drive.

The next season of The Expanse is in motion and should be arriving near the end of the year.

Remember fellow earthlings time is relative to the observer.

a reply to: neo96

The next season of The Expanse is in motion and should be arriving near the end of the year.

Bitchin'.

a reply to: LABTECH767

Just a thought, ever seen how hot a solar furnace can get here on earth, imagine using a solar furnace to turn solid material into plasma on a space craft and using that high pressure explosive plasma to thrust the space craft - or asteroid around.

a reply to: LABTECH767

You're talking about a rocket, pretty much. A reaction drive.

Problem is that material that you're vaporizing has mass which needs to be accelerated. The more mass, the less acceleration. When you're out of reaction mass, you're done accelerating.



Asteroids? It could happen.

There's the "mirror bee" concept, for example, which would launch a swarm of small, mirror-bearing spacecraft to a dangerous asteroid. These mini-probes would aim reflected sunlight at one spot on the space rock, heating it up so much that rock is vaporized, creating propulsive jets.

"The reaction of that gas or material being ejected from the asteroid would nudge it off-course," Nye said.

www.space.com...

a reply to: Phage

Exactly but for moving asteroids around by mining some of there surface mass then vaporising it and using that high pressure plasma as fuel for vectored thrust it may be a cheap if less than elegant solution, remember to move those asteroids to usable locations all they really need to do is using a mix of slingshot and vectoring drop them into a more convenient solar orbit closer to the earth or even if they are certain of there calculations into earth or perhaps lunar orbit, I am not suggesting moving them straight here but over several years or even decades a stream of viable asteroids could be so moved (Cue corporate espionage in space and nicking other people's rocks - perhaps with devastating earth side result's), of course if they get it wrong and slam them into earth then it's chix all over again.

a reply to: LABTECH767

There's nothing really special about plasma in this regard. As far as this scheme is concerned, all you need is vapor...gas. Which plasma is.

What makes you think there would be any "high pressure" involved with vaporizing something in a vacuum?

Yes, It could work for diverting asteroids. I said that. If you don't happen to cause the whole thing to fall apart in the process.

a reply to: Phage

Ah, the size of the containment chamber/furnace in which you heat the material, the structure you use to release it (which would have to be made of something pretty sturdy to resist superheated iron/nickel or whatever the asteroid was made of) would mean that it would be under pressure once it was heated otherwise heating just the surface would have little to no affect(you remember the idea of using nuclear blasts in space to shift asteroids by vaporising a portion of there surface - as the neutron's bombard the surface material they cause a tiny layer of the material to vaporise but that science theory never provided an elegant solution as the surface material is an unknown quantity due to it's nature, pockets, make up and density and as the nuclear blasts only real impact in space is not a shockwave which is miniscule and made up only of the bomb's own material but the high energy neutrons it releases) as the overall thrust produced that way - while it would still exist and be cumulative over time it would still be negligible and also unpredictable but heating it once extracted in a pressurized (heated) containment vessel would allow the release of that material on cue to provide thrust, hence the idea of autonomous surface crawling nuclear furnaces that mine then heat the material they have mined under pressure and release the resultant gaseous material in much the same way as attitude thrusters do.
But you know that already so why the question?.

a reply to: LABTECH767

What exactly are you talking about when you say "solar furnace?" Are you talking about building something on the surface of the asteroid?

And was that first paragraph actually just one sentence?

a reply to: Phage

Oh right, I was just playing with a thought, imagine a portable directionally adjustable solar lensing array on a device instead of carrying the usual nuclear furnace that would condense the sun's energy into a thin stream like a laser - cue Gold finger music - and then use that to heat material in a containment chamber turning it from dense solid to highly pressurized super heated plasma ready to be released in burst to provide thrust.
Actually there are a whole load of problems' with the idea but it was just a play on thought (Such a device would be impactable because of the size it would have to be relative to the heat it could produce, it would still potentially work in space but produce far too little thrust for financial viability for anyone wanting to use it to bring asteroids into usable orbit's - still over time it would work very well - over a long time that is and the further from the natural energy source of the sun the less viable it becomes).

a reply to: terriertail

Yes, Mass Gravitronic Centrifugal Induction Infusion.

Build "Saucer shaped" object......install horizontal Flywheel/Gyro/disc in central area, that can rotate on the centre axis of the vehicle. Use electric motors/generators/alternators to spin "Flywheel" up to 100,000 rpm.

Inertia of the spinning disc will keep the disc spinning, In space, only the friction of the bearings will slow the spinning disc marginally.....therefore, it virtually spins by itself....as it does, it turns the generators that supply constant electricity, to the vehicle and charge the batteries.
Also the spinning disc may help create artificial gravity on the vehicle.
Have a changable north and south pole on the vehicle, that creates a magnetic field around the vehicle.
Use magnetic field to hitch a ride on the flowing "Magnetic Field Highways" created by Stars etc, that seems to exist all around the Universe.
Theoretically, these fields travel at the speed of light, therefore vehicle may attain those speeds.
Navigation and direction change however, will need to be perfected.
Leaving Earths gravity, may need some conventional propulsion system at this stage.


Well, that's the theory anyway, completely made up of course......who would believe in "Flying Saucers", good Eavens.


Note: Inspiration from 1955 Earth vs Flying Saucers and 1956 Forbidden Planet....