Questions tagged [space-travel]
For questions about the process of traveling through space, including in orbit around a planet or moon. Consider also [spaceships]. See also the tag information (click "info") for more details on when this tag applies.
948
questions
2
votes
2
answers
111
views
Could laser collisions be used as an interstellar dust deflector?
What inspired this question is this : I was once reading that a real effort is underway to dream up a 0.2c spaceship (0.2c means one fifth the speed of light). Another story I read tells that ...
- 191
7
votes
15
answers
5k
views
How could a Renaissance level feudal society get into space?
My story features Renaissance-era feudal society with working space travel. Humans are able to travel around the Solar System (Earth, Mars, asteroid belt, moons of Jupiter) in spacecrafts fitted with ...
- 103
-3
votes
0
answers
78
views
How can I describe a plausible spacetraveling alien civilization that looks as unlike as humans as possible while maintaining hard sci-fi norms [closed]
Unless there’s some technology or science we don’t know about yet, wouldn’t any alien species that can space travel necessarily need to be humanoid. Keeping in mind the square cubed law and all this ...
- 95
10
votes
3
answers
1k
views
Iron drive: does this fusion superengine require clarketech? [closed]
For context: this is a very far future sci-fi setting, dozens of millenia from now, where dyson swarms and interstellar travel are commonplace, bioengineering and tech are so advanced they merge ...
- 357
3
votes
3
answers
229
views
How would you get a ship out of a gravity well?
Context
I'm helping a friend with a hard sci-fi story and we ran into an issue. In this setting the technology for absurdly powerful and efficient fusion drives which seem not to have heat managment ...
- 101
7
votes
10
answers
4k
views
Avoiding time travel or causality stuff
How to avoid blatantly time traveling or breaking causality in a big way when getting my characters to places quickly (Faster than light)?
The method used is a tunnel in some sort of different space ...
- 415
2
votes
1
answer
98
views
Effect of molecular clouds on space travel and civilization
To What Extent are Molecular Clouds Geographic Barriers in Space?
In a sci-fi universe I've been working on for quite a while, I have different civilizations that are initially unaware of each other's ...
- 452
2
votes
2
answers
174
views
Could a creature which evolved in space using sunlight and gas for energy and propulsion, glide in our atmosphere?
I'm imagining roughly human-sized creatures which have 'sails' that they use to absorb solar energy and steer themselves around the solar system. I'm trying to think of a feasible way such a being ...
3
votes
1
answer
186
views
How much liquid hydrogen is required to veer a manned probe off course into an escape trajectory in deep space?
I am working on this horror-scifi story based on the lost cosmonauts theory, where the Judica-Cordiglia brothers detected an SOS from a manned probe veering off into space before Yuri Gagarin ahem... ...
- 3,304
9
votes
3
answers
3k
views
What would it take for a spacecraft to travel to the sun's nadir and stop?
In a science fiction future universe, spacecraft routinely travel from a distance "above" a star's north or south pole to rendezvous with planets orbiting in the star system's orbital plane. ...
- 107
3
votes
3
answers
836
views
Internal Mass Driver Engines in Cislunar Space
An internal mass driver engine uses electrical power to accelerate reaction mass in a mass driver and to accelerate a spacecraft that way. Some designs assume relatively large exhaust particles (dust ...
- 112k
8
votes
3
answers
727
views
Could this hypothetical Sub-Earth support human life?
The Question
Is a theoretical 2/3rds - 7/10ths Earth big enough to have the magnetic field, atmosphere and plate tectonics to do this, or will I wind up geologically killing the planet?
I have been ...
- 198
3
votes
3
answers
685
views
The late-victorian nuclear-thruster
Nuclear fission! How hard can that be? Nuclear reactors have been quietly humming under the earth's surface only a few billion years ago after all.
It's very convenient then, that my planet's quite a ...
- 898
10
votes
8
answers
5k
views
Space-ships and stations...made from cast-iron?
If there's two things i love, it's space-flight, and late 19th century technology, and i hope to implement as much of the latter into as much of the former in my current setting. And one thing that ...
- 898
15
votes
17
answers
4k
views
How can we meet aliens in an underpopulated galaxy?
I am designing a hard sci-fi universe where humanity is confined to the Solar system and travels using fusion.
One of the obstacles I am facing is how to make humans meet one alien race which is ...
- 1,148
4
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Amount of antimatter needed to propel large spacecraft?
Okay, So i'm not really into physics or mathematics but i'm trying my best to learn some bit of how the calculations needed for the amount of antimatter needed to propel a spacecrafft to relativistic ...
- 567
4
votes
2
answers
725
views
Spacecraft Design of a Cold-Blooded Humanoid Race
I was talking with a friend recently and he reasoned that a cold-blooded race would take longer to get to space, but survive more easily once the technology progressed enough. The rationale was that a ...
- 195
5
votes
2
answers
941
views
Communication between a stationary observer and a spaceship traveling at near lightspeed
I was wondering about the possibilities of communication between a stationary observer and a spaceship traveling at near light-speed(lets say 99.99%). If the observer can send out signals at a certain ...
- 153
14
votes
4
answers
3k
views
How stable would a rogue star system be?
By some means, artificial or naturally occuring, a human inhabited star system has been flung from the Milky Way. Prior to being ejected from the galaxy, the system bears at least one Earth-like ...
- 3,167
10
votes
5
answers
596
views
Would a star's spectroscopy be stable enough on approach to use it as a navigational reference from a great distance?
NOTE: The offered "duplicate" question IS NOT WHAT I AM ASKING. Alternative methods of navigation ARE NOT ACCEPTABLE as answers. I am specifically asking whether or not a ship traveling in ...
- 117k
4
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Birds flying or swimming in space
I had a dream. Imagine the Moon as a bird nest the size of a dwarf planet. Flocks of adult birds travel through space to Earth in order to hunt their prey. (imagine gannet birds swimming in space)
...
- 433
8
votes
3
answers
297
views
Preexisting wormholes: How to find aliens?
Setting
The future, but not too far. No antimatter and no teleportation. Space travel is relatively reliable, but it's not cheap and it's powered by fusion. Space travel outside of the solar system is ...
- 1,148
0
votes
6
answers
1k
views
Best female underwear for rocket travel [closed]
Rocket-based travel must minimize the amount of mass that is carried. At the extreme end, this would include eliminating mostly non-functional systems such as clothing
Not all clothing is without ...
- 15.6k
3
votes
1
answer
248
views
Seeking chart of nebula particle density vs. ship velocity
The traditional Sci-Fi nebula is thick as ketchup (I'm lookin' at you Star Trek!) but the reality of nebulae we know about is that a pilot wouldn't even notice that they're in one due to particle ...
- 117k
23
votes
24
answers
6k
views
What would stop a large spaceship from looking like a flying brick?
In the far future, galactic space travel is now a common reality, and spaceships reach sizes of over 1 kilometer in length.
Any capital ship in existence would therefore be designed for functionality, ...
- 999
1
vote
2
answers
277
views
What could Kaiju do to stop us from travelling into deep space?
The world's overrun with Kaiju but, while they kill many and cause much destruction, our civilization continues, migrating inward, away from the coasts where the Kaiju typically occupy.
Question is ...
- 851
5
votes
2
answers
294
views
Interstellar travel via a moving walkway of dust
The "moving walkways" pass close to local solar systems fairly far from their suns. They are very small, and thus hard to detect. Each "walkway" consists of two columns: dust and ...
- 1,009
2
votes
1
answer
134
views
Alt-history continuation of Dynasoar program
Just hopping over from SpaceExploration
I'd like to know how realistic a use-case the DynaSoar spacecraft would be for a Titan descent craft, in terms of in-universe realism.
I'm assuming no far-...
- 131
3
votes
4
answers
662
views
Is there a reason for Rocket-style vertical takeoff craft when you don't need to bring reaction mass?
Reactionless Drives?
I have a sci-fi setting that takes place very far in the future. I like to think it tends toward the harder side of sci-fi, so I'm trying to minimize the number of Clarketechs (...
- 452
5
votes
4
answers
403
views
How small can a nuclear weapon get?
Context
I am writing the section following a critical space battle where a rogue UNN Pearl of the Stars is taken down, and its CIC, reactor and, most importantly, its payload of 4 planet buster 15-...
- 1,984
-1
votes
2
answers
145
views
How does a Person survive an intergalactic voayage?
Intergalactic voyages are long, they go over quite large distances, but you, a human in the Milky Way, want to see a galaxy beyond our own with your own eyes and live there. At 99% the speed of light, ...
- 2,068
4
votes
2
answers
644
views
How Much of the Universe Could Humanity Conquer?
Imagine that less than a million years from now, probably in the hundreds of thousands, humanity has spread throughout the galaxy. There are afew aliens here and there, but that is insignificant, they ...
- 2,068
4
votes
1
answer
180
views
Maximum acceleration of minimally modified humans in acceleration fluid
I've been looking into viable accelerations for minimally modified humans in an acceleration-gel-type chamber. Minimally modified means no permanent or significant changes to the human body. Examples ...
- 867
2
votes
10
answers
2k
views
Is it possible for rockets to exist in a world that is only in the early stages of developing jet aircraft?
More specifically, is it possible for rocket engines comparable to those of the mid 1960s to exist in a world where in atmosphere jet engines are only in their early stages of development?
This world ...
- 3,863
1
vote
1
answer
199
views
Would this design for a generational star ship be realistic for traveling to Alpha Centauri?
https://www.tinkercad.com/things/6hFXA0L0dOW
I am writing a story with where the main character discovers this ship traveling to Alpha Centauri because our solar system has been devoured by a black ...
- 401
3
votes
2
answers
269
views
How to make intragalactic space navigation difficult
Say there are two factions in a cold war with each other. Each faction controls huge amounts of the known galaxy, but there is a demilitarized neutral zone in-between them. Both factions have access ...
- 133
-1
votes
1
answer
70
views
Hycean world space travel [closed]
Hycean worlds are planets which bridge the gap between rocky and gas giant planets. They have atmospheres high in hydrogen and vast oceans with perhaps no dry land at all. How could the local sentient ...
- 3,134
2
votes
4
answers
873
views
How to use warp gates that can only travel at 0.05c?
Let's say that creating warp gates is possible, so long as both ends of the warp gate are stationary within some universal reference frame (no time travel please). The only problem with this ...
- 2,705
3
votes
1
answer
157
views
How much diamagnetic levitation can a human handle?
One of the limitations to human space travel is acceleration limits. We'd really like to just shoot spaceships out of a cannon to 99% the speed of light, but the resulting pressures on the human body ...
- 12.7k
-4
votes
1
answer
97
views
For a 60 billion light year journey, what would be the distance with this wormhole? [closed]
An advanced human civilization possesses Portal Engine technology built in to their ships. These portal engines produce traversable wormholes from one end (the ship’s end of the wormhole), and uses ...
- 1,851
3
votes
1
answer
155
views
Millitary applications of a gravity drive [closed]
Let's say gravity drives exist. This is a device that can power a spaceship by creating an artificial gravity well some distance in front of the spaceship that the spaceship perpetually falls into, ...
- 2,705
6
votes
5
answers
2k
views
Could standard aircraft(planes, helicopers, etc.) work as spacecraft in this world?
Ok, so I have this world(or maybe it will just be a dimension depending on how things pan out) called 'The Weird' that has air in space, like Earthlike air(for the most part). Also, the 'planets' or ...
- 1,421
16
votes
13
answers
3k
views
Is a "20th century" spacefaring civilization plausible?
This civilization has computational technology roughly equivalent to Earth's in the late 20th century. We're talking post-moon landing, but pre-Internet (roughly 1969-1983). They may or may not have ...
- 946
3
votes
3
answers
366
views
Why would a sublight Alcubierre drive be more useful for braking than for propulsion?
To get to the point, ships in the setting I'm working on still use a conventional, albeit very advanced, form of rocket propulsion.
However interstellar ships also use a sublight Alcubierre drive ...
- 1,809
5
votes
3
answers
407
views
I have an unlimited supply of antimatter -- how do I actually make my spaceship go?
I'm making a book series set in the medium and far future of humanity, at various stages. Some elements are based in harder science than others. Throughout the timeline, Dyson swarms serve as the VIP ...
- 309
7
votes
2
answers
1k
views
Would a rogue planet experience more asteroid collisions?
I'm working on a novel where the characters inhabit a rogue planet. Would that planet get hit by more asteroids due to the fact that it isn't orbiting a star? I have a feeling that the distance is ...
- 176
5
votes
6
answers
3k
views
Is this a viable theoretical method of fast interplanetary space travel?
Let's say in the future humanity has traveled to all parts of the solar system, but they want to be able to travel between planets faster. In pursuit of this, they create massive space probes with ...
- 51
7
votes
1
answer
481
views
How to stop interstellar civilizations from becoming too dissimilar?
In this world there are humans have developed the technology to allow for interstellar travel, accomplished by light speed engines. However, this has created a problem. Is there any way for those who ...
3
votes
1
answer
125
views
Could you use the gravity of an extremely close gas giant to assist in leaving a planet
Scenario: A gas giant knocked off orbit is projected to make an extremely close approach to our planet. Close enough to cause miles high tides, continent wide earthquakes, and send our planet on an ...
- 163
6
votes
12
answers
3k
views
What is the best design for trans-atmospheric cargo ship?
Backdrop
This is set in a world after an empire-state that controlled the entire solar system fell. They have incredibly efficient catalyzed direct fusion drives, which powers the heavy mining and ...
- 1,984