Stats-or-Superstition

Statistics and/or Superstition

Star flight presents several barriers to overcome. The first one is the incredible energies involved. I see beamed propulsion and huge sails as the only way to overcome this barrier. With AI robots it will be possible someday to build the enormous mass beam drivers powered powered by stellar energy, miniature black holes or even magnetic monopole generators. Robots will make it possible to make large magnetic sails and electron plasma sails. The cycling station or interstellar shuttle concept whereby small pods carrying humans brake into and leave star systems while the mother ship is deflected by mass beams and uses Lorentz turning to direct it to the next star system reduces energy requirements greatly.

The next barriers are psychological and biological. How will humans endure five to ten year or longer voyages to the stars? I see fairly large ships with lots of amenities like spacious cabins, king sized beds, big screen TVs, holographic cinema and live theatre, public bathes, large gardens, beer halls, smoking lounges, restaurants, snack bars; gymns for tennis, badminton, basketball and fighting matches; swimming pools, game rooms for billiards, ping-pong, poker, bridge, chess, checkers, video games, RPGs; a bowling alley, hobby shops, a firing range, massage parlor/brothel, etc. to make voyages enjoyable as the solution. In the large gardens there could be concerts, dances, parties, picnics, barbecues, luas, harvest festivals, gatherings for spiritual reasons, perhaps even a sacred oak tree. The largest ship I have envisioned has four spherical hulls each 500 meters in diameter with "simulated outdoors" areas and equatorial level. Two spheres could have large gardens in these areas. Perhaps one would be a temperate biome and one a tropical biome. One sphere could have a circular pool surrounded by a sandy beach. The final sphere could have a golf course and some gardens. Virtual reality systems would also keep passengers entertained. Massive ships require more energy to propel but higher velocities require even more energy since K.E.=(mV^2)/2 and more accurately at relativistic speeds: K.E.=mc2({[1/(SQRT 1-B^2)]-1} with B^2=(V/c)^2
Hibernation may be possible but it will have limits as most animals hibernate only for a few months. Deep freeze suspended animation seems risky to me. Extended life spans will make the years spent in transit a smaller portion of traveler's life to be spent away from home, so star flight won't mean sacrificing one's life on a slow multi-generation ship never to make it to the destination.

Many people will be satisfied to stay home in the solar system and enjoy scenes obtained by robotic probes of other worlds on their large HDTVs, VR equipment or at holographic cinemas; yet, some people will want to visit these worlds in the flesh. Images and data from robotic probes will help people choose their destinations. They won't have to go blindly into the galaxy.

Some hav envisioned star flight at about 0.3c while I have looked at 0.5c and 0.67c. The interesting thing about 0.67c is that ship time due to time dilation is roughly equal to the time it takes light to reach target stars. For instance, to reach Alpha Centauri, 4.3 ly away, at 0.67c takes 6.4 years but aboard ship only 4.75 years elapses. At 0.9c it takes 4.78 years to reach the AC3 system and only two years elapses aboard ship. It would be much easier to spend two years in space instead of five or more, presuming suspended animation is impossible. One might do a couple of shifts in hibernation to make the trip time seem shorter also. Since the pods that catch up with and brake away from star ships must be of low mass to make the interstellar shuttle system efficient it would be wise to hibernate in the pods which will need a few months to accelerate and decelerate to star ship velocity and rendesvouz. The problem is that going fomr 0.67c to 0.9c requires much more energy and makes collision dangers more threatening. It takes more energy to deflect ships at 0.9c also. If we can surmount the challenges of hibernation during pod jaunts and generate enough energy to propell ships to 0.9c we must still turn to statistic and/or superstition to deal with the problem of collisisons.

Magnetic and physical shields, radar, optical sensors, lasers and previous mapping of interstellar space can make star flight safer but even collision with a large rock could damage the ship severly. Experience with robot probes and detailed study of interstellar space may provide us with enough data and statistical evidence to show that star flight is no more dangerous than automobile or air travel and possibly even less risky since interstellar space appears to be very empty. Combined with various shielding and detection/evasive systems the risk of colliding with an object in space may be far less dangerous than choking on food! Until we have gathered more data we don't really know. If statistics show us that the risk is low we can travel without anxiety.

Then there is unscientific superstition. Some encounter misfortune because of their sin or karma and others live a blessed life. However, some encounter misfortune because of human error which we hope to reduce with the use of AI and others seem to be martryed for a cause, and that has much to do with their own choice. Others suffer because of persecution by bigots but this should not be a problem for interstellar travelers. While many of us imagine a hedonistic future in space, perhaps we should tame our fantasies and think seriously about right and wrong. I don't believe that polyamory is the same thing as adultery and abortion is not infanticide. I don't condemn other lifestyles either such as the single lifestyle, plural marriage, the gay life, etc. You could call me a Pagan if you wish. Trouble brews when people hate, discriminate against, inflict pain, lie, betray, hold out on other like misers denying them the things they need for life, liberty and happiness, fail to protect or get justice done for others, etc. This causes us to ask, "What did all the people on the Titanic do that was so wrong?" Perhaps they were abandoning their nations, their countrymen and their kings for the USA like greedy deserters. Nobody can say for sure. Most people will just presume that disasters happen and it is all a matter of chance. Therefore, we need to collect vast amounts of data on the interstellar space environment with robot probes before we can determine whether or not the risk is acceptable.

If it is determined that travel at 0.9c is insignificantly riskier than travel at 0.67c or slower then it would be worthwhile to achieve this velocity to take advantage of time dilation and make star flight less time consuming and more enjoyable. More energy will be required and this will be an enormous engineering challenge. It might add to the cost of star flight also.