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.
983
questions
3
votes
1
answer
80
views
Gas-giant aided interplanetary transfer system, ring vs laser
As I mentioned in previous questions, my story takes place within a star system featuring several gas giants.
I have been wondering how they could be exploited to make interplanetary travel more ...
- 1,444
7
votes
4
answers
2k
views
How would you slow the speed of a rogue solar system?
I previously asked about a rogue solar system, ejected from the Milky Way and set on a course for Andromeda. After millions of years, arrival is imminent - now, the inhabitants who had been in ...
- 3,402
8
votes
6
answers
2k
views
How much easier/harder would it be to colonize space if humans found a method of giving ourselves bodies that could survive in almost anything?
For exact specifications, the bodies are not necessarily hard sci-fi. The astronauts/colonists/etc. still look either human or like something from human imagination, but are technically made of Charm ...
- 97
4
votes
2
answers
160
views
What is the most advanced engine for deep space use that could be developed between around 1970 and 1990 with an IPP level space budget?
There have been a lot of different concepts that were studied for propulsion, but most of them are still quite far off engineering wise and even the closer ones are limited by budget.
"IPP level ...
- 5,165
14
votes
9
answers
3k
views
How do you hide an investigation of alien ruins on the moon during Apollo 11?
Picture this: it is the 1960s and the NASA is getting ready to take its moonshot. But in addition to all the other reasons for the going to the moon, the U.S. government has conclusive evidence that ...
- 491
22
votes
7
answers
3k
views
Do mini-humans need a "real" Saturn V to reach the moon?
What if humans would not be in the scale we know, but being much smaller. If they wanted to go to the moon in the 1960s, would they have had to build a "real sized" Saturn V because of the ...
- 2,202
3
votes
6
answers
1k
views
What other goals could a space project with the primary goal of experience building with heavy lift rockets perform?
A nation is attempting to build a large scale manned space program. They are the primary pioneers in this world, and around the same stage as the US in the early-mid 1960s.
After getting a man in ...
- 5,165
16
votes
17
answers
6k
views
How many people could we get off of the planet in a month?
On August 19th, 2024, a rogue black hole passes through our solar system, flinging a 200km diameter chunk of rock at the Earth, to impact in 30 days! Earth is doomed!
But all hope is not lost. The ...
- 17.3k
2
votes
7
answers
299
views
How avoid debris collision when moving near lightspeed?
When one is travelling near light speed any collision with (near) stationary objects is a problem. Getting rock to windshield at C will leave one !"#! dent.
One might hit rocks, debris or even ...
- 435
28
votes
10
answers
5k
views
Would a manned Mars landing be possible with Apollo-era technology?
I am creating an alternate history of the Space Race. Essentially the Point of Divergence from a Space Race perspective would be the Soviet moonshot efforts not failing spectacularly. Therefore they ...
- 409
9
votes
3
answers
2k
views
Will a spaceship that never stops between earth and mars save fuel?
The most commonly proposed plan to build a colony on Mars (notably the plan SpaceX is actively building) involves building a ship, launching it to space then have it (or part of it) land on Mars, then ...
- 7,232
7
votes
2
answers
136
views
Looking backwards to navigate forwards
We often have questions here about objects moving at relativistic speeds through real space and one issue that always comes up is particle interactions at those speeds. This creates a bow shock of ...
- 49k
3
votes
3
answers
242
views
Reducing travel time in short distance space travel
In the civilization I'm working out, the distances between the celestial bodies are rather short (between 200'000 km and and 20'000'000 km) when it comes to space travel.
Economically, this society is ...
- 325
5
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Minerals in asteroids that can only be detected indirectly
A small team of astronauts are sent to setup a mining operation on an asteroid. They are specifically equipped for mining and refining one very specific mineral.
This mineral is common, ~99% of ...
- 423
12
votes
4
answers
2k
views
Using Gamma Ray Lasers to Blow Away Interstellar Medium
I'm working on a sci-fi project, and I'm designing a torchship that can go up to 0.3c. I wanted to use a whipple shield to prevent interstellar medium from damaging the ship, but then I came across ...
- 155
7
votes
5
answers
3k
views
Can Victorian engineers build spacecraft with an Epstein drive?
During the 18th century, astronomers discovered a variable star whose variability turned out to be a coded message, describing a simple way to build a rocket engine that (somehow) has performance ...
- 461
2
votes
8
answers
283
views
Could asteroid mining be made viable if there were a resource rich asteroid in orbit just beyond the moon?
Two of the biggest issues with asteroid mining is the issue of actually getting materials from the the asteroid in question back to earth, and the relative abundance of resources on earth vs in space. ...
- 5,165
-5
votes
1
answer
79
views
Do the physics in this hypothetical space world work? What about space travel? [closed]
Basically, I have a solar system containing roughly twenty planets (though I can do closer to 10/15, if necessary). They revolve around a giant star at the center of the world. Does this work? What if ...
- 133
1
vote
1
answer
88
views
What is the gravity above which launching into space is hindered? [duplicate]
I'm building a scenario where humanity meets an alien society with a technology comparable to that we have in the 2000's and beyond. Its technological level is comparable to ours. They have tapped ...
- 6,329
4
votes
3
answers
1k
views
How would time dilate for pioneers travelling to Alpha Centauri Cb?
Re: Relative Velocity Time Dilation:
Pioneers have travelled 4.2 light years to Alpha Centauri Cb in 9 months. Handwavium tech can transport mass in this timeframe. Upon their arrival to Cb, they are ...
- 115
7
votes
7
answers
2k
views
How would humans on Earth detect a Shkadov thruster on other side of the Milky Way Galaxy?
Apologies if the title is confusing - I've been trying to figure out how to word it for a while now.
Essentially I am writing a (relatively) hard science-fiction story set in the present/very near ...
- 71
5
votes
13
answers
3k
views
How would FTL travel based on tachyons most likely work?
So, I am trying to design an FTL system for my sci-fi setting. I find the concept of tachyons to be intriguing, and want to incorporate it into the system, but I'm not that familiar with how they work....
12
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Using a planetary flyby to reduce speed
At the end of my novel, the surviving crew of a spaceship is hurtling past a Dyson swarm that encloses the sun where the asteroid belt used to be. They are traveling too fast for orbital insertion and ...
- 121
3
votes
7
answers
2k
views
Is it possible to use thermal pumping for power generation in space? [closed]
There's this one component that exists in real life that uses the thermoelectric effect to pump heat, basically, by creating a temperature differential using voltage. Is it possible to use this in ...
- 117
2
votes
1
answer
322
views
Is there any version of an ion drive, fictional or not, that would be able to create torchship-like acceleration for interplanetary travel? [closed]
Im trying to find a way to get a torch-ship up to some 0.x % of lightspeed with a ion-thrust like engine.
Let assume power is a non-issue, unless its becoming absurd (it makes no sense to propel a ...
- 377
5
votes
3
answers
208
views
Would the discovery of a room temperature superconductor with a high critical current improve ion drives?
I'm just an optimistic, uneducated bum, so if any of the terminology or ideas are wrong I apologize. So I understand that ion drives are very economical but very low thrust. Partly because powering ...
- 377
0
votes
3
answers
213
views
How to create a network of stable traversable wormholes, how those WH behave when interacting with gravity and vessels, and how they look [closed]
first time poster on the world building site, and I have several questions about wormholes and how they work. I've been reading through the other questions tagged "wormholes" and researching ...
- 17
-5
votes
1
answer
134
views
How much energy would you need to open a portal and maintain it? [closed]
How much energy would you need to open a portal and maintain it? And more importantly, what would the infrastructure look like?
For example: Would a single nuclear reactor be enough, or would you need ...
- 175
3
votes
6
answers
347
views
What would the societal effects be, generally of inhabited worlds having time pass at significantly different rates [closed]
Thousands of years in the futures space was colonized, planets terraformed, history happening upon those planets and so forth. But it's not quite as was predicted, for in the initial foray of ...
2
votes
1
answer
136
views
Is it possible to use the tech behind Project Daedalus as an asteroid defense system?
Assuming that all requirements are met, is it possible to use the gigantic Project Daedalus fusion propulsion to move large "Planet-Killing" asteroids at a meaningful pace, be it asteroid ...
- 81
11
votes
4
answers
3k
views
What would be easily missed, but undeniable, proof of life from non-advanced detectors?
I need a way for a spacecraft to detect absolutely irrefutable proof of organic, but not intelligent, life on a planet, most likely through spectroscopy or another similar concept. The spacecraft is ...
- 417
10
votes
2
answers
2k
views
Engine most likely to be available in the next 80 years to accelerate a craft at 1g for 4 weeks
I posted this in Space SE, but someone suggested I also post it here. So here it is!
I am wondering what type of engine would most likely be available in the next 80 that can constantly accelerate a ...
- 203
8
votes
7
answers
4k
views
How fast is too fast for travel inside the solar system?
I'm looking past the science of fuels and star ship engine details at this point because I'm trying to establish speed limits around our solar system. My initial idea was to use TIME TO DESTINATION as ...
- 307
12
votes
12
answers
10k
views
Why isn't the Solar System infested with space pirates?
In the universe in question, interplanetary travel has just about been perfected: a type of fusion reactor that doubles as an engine can produce large thrust on account of the extremely high exhaust ...
- 6,166
2
votes
0
answers
77
views
Moving people and goods between spinning and non-spinning parts of a space station [closed]
I'm thinking of three possibilities - all of which have the user experience of elevators and don't require space suits.
involves a programmed pod that moves a short distance in space between docking ...
- 69
16
votes
22
answers
6k
views
Why can't escape pods be opened from the inside?
Set in the near future Space tourism is a thing, all commercial and non-military spaceships must come equipped with multiple escape pods. The minimum specs for each escape pod are as follows:
min ...
- 48k
11
votes
11
answers
3k
views
What would space equivalent of trucks look like? [closed]
I'm writing a story and the peoples' given profession is basically "space truckers": delivering small-to-medium containers of cargo across long distances in the galaxy. Because the journeys ...
- 193
2
votes
5
answers
317
views
How large a mass could a spacecraft tow between solar systems?
For the purposes of this question, let's assume space travel does not involve 'shortcuts' through other dimensions (like so-called hyperspace) and that 'tractor-beam' technology exists.
Provided the ...
- 3,169
2
votes
2
answers
143
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 ...
- 307
7
votes
15
answers
8k
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
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 ...
- 493
4
votes
6
answers
388
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 ...
- 111
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
127
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
191
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
234
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... ...
- 3,422
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
865
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 ...
- 119k
8
votes
3
answers
795
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 ...
- 188
3
votes
3
answers
775
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 ...
- 1,302