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Essay / Challenges of Interstellar Space Travel - 691
IntroductionThe idea of interstellar space travel has been discussed for many years among many scientists and engineers since the 1950s (Adelman, 180). This has not only been discussed but also demonstrated in science fiction literature. By gaining the knowledge of interstellar travel, people wonder when will we be able to travel between the stars and if it is even possible to reach a star other than the sun. However, others wonder "what's the point of spending so much money on something that isn't possible?" » or “why do we have to study another star when we have the sun brightening our day?” The answers to these two questions are: one day our sun will become a red giant and end the life of the Earth and the second reason why a nearby supernova can affect our solar system (Mallove, p. 4). In order to escape these tragedies, we must find a way to be transported to another star. Dr. Leslie Robert Shepherd, a nuclear physicist and member of the British Interplanetary Society, first published a paper on "interstellar space travel" in 1952. From then on, the British Interplanetary Society continued research into "interstellar space travel". » throughout its history (The Telegraph, 2012). Our research question is “Can we ever reach stars other than the Sun?” » This article will explain the challenges of interstellar flight, the means of traveling in space and finally the projects that have emerged during the years of research. The Challenges of StarflightInterstellar space travel is very difficult to achieve. There are many challenges to overcome to succeed. The first challenge to interstellar space travel would be distance (Mallove,5). The nearest star is Proxima Centauri, 4.3 light years away, or about 4.0681×〖10〗^13 km from Earth. This would allow...... middle of paper ...... to overcome the limits of rockets using chemical energy (Mallove, 49). This type of rocket is used by heating the fuel with a nuclear reactor to provide thrust, in other words propulsive mass (Tate, 2013). Ion and plasma drives are very similar, they work by electrically accelerating ions or plasma to provide thrust. The speed of the rocket is slow but it would operate much longer than chemical nuclear rockets (Tate, 2013). Antimatter rockets were proposed in the early 1950s by a German scientist, Eugen Sanger. This rocket would have a speed of approximately 3×〖10〗^7 m/s. This would produce “energetic gamma rays” that would cause travel at the speed of light (Mallove, 49). The major problem with these rockets is fuel. It requires an enormous amount of fuel, larger than Earth could produce. For example, Nuclear fusion rockets would need about "1,000 supertankers filled with fuel.”