Sunday, June 26, 2016

The Future of Space Shuttles


The world will come to end. That is a fact that has been burned into my mind after having watched a series of episodes of How the Universe Works. Honestly, I was just really bored when I stumbled upon this show, and, due to the convenient lack of TV channels, I ended up watching a few to many of these episodes.

This show is perfect for a day when you're too lazy to even get up and make a cup of coffee.

Anyway, back to my point: the world will end. Either the sun will consume the earth, the moon will destabilize and create unstable axis rotation for the earth, leading to immense climate changes (from weather similar to that of the ice ages to weather at the equator) and death of all life,  or some other phenomenon will cause all life on earth to be obliterated.

Side note: I believe the most likely cause for the end of the world will be all the anthropic activities that will lead to unbearable living conditions for any species on earth. In other words, the global warming we create will lead to the end of most, if not all life on earth.

Trust me when I say the world will end. Maybe not like this, but the world will end.
 Another side note: I just realized that almost every episode of How the Universe Works is related in some way to the end of life on earth. Strange how a show about the entire universe always seems to focus on us and the earth instead of the bigger picture.

That being said, we humans have already been preparing  for the inevitable doomsday of earth by creating space shuttles. However, our technology for space travel is not advanced enough for us to travel to another life sustaining planet that may be light years away. Heck, with our current technology, we can't even leave our solar system! Fortunately, there are people who have found hypothetical solutions to that problem (other than living on Mars), that will also lead to incredible advancements in space travel/exploration.
Do we even want to live on a planet as desolate as mars? 
 
The first solution to our space travel dilemma presents a very intriguing concept that is also extremely cool. The idea is that we use antimatter, a substance that releases energy on contact with regular matter, as a source of fuel. This would allow space shuttles to travel at 15% the speed of light ,compared to the current speed of space shuttles which is only 0.00259 % the speed of light. The other option is to harness the power of hydrogen fusion (also used by the sun) which would allow us to move at 10% the speed of light. One way over the other, it's a huge improvement from what we had before.

As a consequence of this new technology, we will be able to complete incredible things beyond our wildest imaginations. We will be able to examine in precise detail the makeup of nebulas and far away comets, make new observations and see further into our galaxy than ever before! We may even discover a few of the secrets contained by the universe that would explain the origin of the universe or the existence of black matter!

To be able to explore all the areas of our galaxy close up would be amazing!
On top of that, with our newfound ability to travel great distances, we will be able to find a new habitable planet where we can establish colonies, similar to how settlers established colonies in North America back in the 17th century. However, the best part of this new technology, which will be a true crowd pleaser for Star Wars fans, will be the fact that we can now travel in a state similar to light speed.
15% the speed of light is close enough, right?
Anyway, to wrap up this blog post, I must say that it's comforting to know that some humans are already preparing for the day when we destroy the earth, and that the human race will carry on.  
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