Assuming you could travel at the speed of light..

[Bumrush99]

How could you be sure that the spacecraft wouldn't hit misc space junk like the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter? Also, assume that you can not plot out the entire voyage before leaving. Can you even see what's ahead of you at that speed and have enough time to react to it?

 

[SSSnail]

Easily, make sure that I leave enough space between myself and the object. Maybe 2 light seconds, it should work the same, no? Count with me, 1001...1002. There.

 

[puffff]

make the spacecraft indestructable so anything you hit would just bounce off.

- or -

mount some sort of super gun at the front of your ship and fire constantly, blasting anything in your way.

 

[bignateyk]

Originally posted by: puffff
make the spacecraft indestructable so anything you hit would just bounce off.

- or -

mount some sort of super gun at the front of your ship and fire constantly, blasting anything in your way.

But how could you fire something foward when you are already going at the speed of light? *Head asplodes*

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: puffff
make the spacecraft indestructable so anything you hit would just bounce off.

- or -

mount some sort of super gun at the front of your ship and fire constantly, blasting anything in your way.

But how could you fire something foward when you are already going at the speed of light? *Head asplodes*

If you were travelling at c, you would be pure energy and no longer matter, so you would not be tangible and objects would not harm you.

 

[Bumrush99]

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: puffff
make the spacecraft indestructable so anything you hit would just bounce off.

- or -

mount some sort of super gun at the front of your ship and fire constantly, blasting anything in your way.

But how could you fire something foward when you are already going at the speed of light? *Head asplodes*

If you were travelling at c, you would be pure energy and no longer matter, so you would not be tangible and objects would not harm you.

So technically you could fly through a solid mass object like a planet? So the only thing that could stop the spacecraft would be a black hole?

 

[DaveSimmons]

That's what the deflector shields are for.

Forcefields are at least as practical as near-lightspeed travel, let alone FTL.

Ramjet drives even depend on running into matter to use as fuel.

 

[Jeff7]

Originally posted by: Bumrush99
So technically you could fly through a solid mass object like a planet? So the only thing that could stop the spacecraft would be a black hole?

What happens when a beam of light hits a planet?
Splat, now you're heat. Maybe the energy that was your arm will be refleced back into space, giving you the luxury of being able to deliver to the planet a superluminal flip-off.


A deflector would likely be needed to push away interstellar hydrogen, or else the front of the ship might well erode away. It'd have to be damn powerful though.

Concerning ramjets or Bussard collectors, I read that they'd need to have such an incredibly powerful magnetic field in order to channel in hydrogen at high velocity that they'd never stand a chance of yielding a net energy gain.

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Bumrush99

Originally posted by: Fritzo

Originally posted by: bignateyk

Originally posted by: puffff
make the spacecraft indestructable so anything you hit would just bounce off.

- or -

mount some sort of super gun at the front of your ship and fire constantly, blasting anything in your way.

But how could you fire something foward when you are already going at the speed of light? *Head asplodes*

If you were travelling at c, you would be pure energy and no longer matter, so you would not be tangible and objects would not harm you.

So technically you could fly through a solid mass object like a planet? So the only thing that could stop the spacecraft would be a black hole?

Well, I supposed that part of you would be absorbed and turned to heat. It would take infinite energy to propel matter at c though, so it ain't gonna happen anyway.

 

[leftyman]

Hire a qualified spaceship captain.

 

[AMCRambler]

wouldn't it have to be the speed of light squared in order for you to have turned to energy? Thinking of Einsteins theory of relativity here. E=MC^2

 

[AMCRambler]

dang double post

 

[BrunoPuntzJones]

Originally posted by: leftyman
Hire a qualified spaceship captain.

Doesn't that just mean having the green jacket?

 

[Flyback]

I would highly argue against going at the speed of light if you ever want to see your family again (relativistic change--ain't it a b!tch?)

 

[Canai]

Originally posted by: leftyman
Hire a qualified spaceship captain.

:thumbsup:

 

[Kntx]

Originally posted by: Bumrush99
How could you be sure that the spacecraft wouldn't hit misc space junk like the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter? Also, assume that you can not plot out the entire voyage before leaving. Can you even see what's ahead of you at that speed and have enough time to react to it?

You cannot see ahead of you. When traveling at the speed of light from your perspective the travel time is 0.

 

[toolboxolio]

Just send a lot more regular spaceships instead of safe ones.... some will survive the trip. It would be great to have all them make it every time.

 

[VTHodge]

Originally posted by: Bumrush99
How could you be sure that the spacecraft wouldn't hit misc space junk like the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter? Also, assume that you can not plot out the entire voyage before leaving. Can you even see what's ahead of you at that speed and have enough time to react to it?

Why assume that? Plotting the exact path to avoid collision seems to be the best solution.

 

[sdifox]

WARP, people... traveling at light speed doesn't get you anywhere.

 

[nonameo]

autopilot?

 

[FoBoT]

you need to keep your deflector shields up, duh :roll:

 

[Fritzo]

Originally posted by: Kntx

Originally posted by: Bumrush99
How could you be sure that the spacecraft wouldn't hit misc space junk like the Asteroid belt between Mars and Jupiter? Also, assume that you can not plot out the entire voyage before leaving. Can you even see what's ahead of you at that speed and have enough time to react to it?

You cannot see ahead of you. When traveling at the speed of light from your perspective the travel time is 0.

Not to mention how you slow down. It would take forever to get up to that speed without splattering the pilot into goo. Slowing down would take just as long.

 

[PeeluckyDuckee]

Big slotted and drilled Brembo discs FTW!

 

[jdini76]

You need to put your coordinates through the nano computer. If you didn't you could bounce off a planet. Traveling through hyperspace isn't like dusting crops boy!

 

[LordMorpheus]

At the speed of light you'd get there instantaneously, as far as you were concerned. You get spatial dialation as you approach c, when you are going at the speed of light the distance between you and the place you are going is zero.

To an outside observer, time stops for the people in the spacecraft.

At any rate, it's also theoretically impossible to go the speed of light. You'd need infinite energy.