Would you join a colony ship being sent 1000 light years away?

So NASA is working on a new deep space engine called an ion engine. This engine is capable of running forever on low power. Because there is nothing slowing you down in space these engines would be capable of accelerating a ship to 99% of the speed of light. And because of the way time is distorted when traveling at light speed a human being should be able to survive a trip of 1000 light years or more assuming they live 40 years after launch.

So let's say NASA discovered a radio signal coming from a planet roughly 1000 light years away. The signal is faint but they can definitely determine it's not natural and it's coming from a planet that appears to be Earth like.

NASA wants to send a colony ship with roughly 100 humans on this light speed ship. The ship is equipped with everything that would be needed to start a colony on the planet and survive. The trip would take roughly 40 years for the passengers on board but for people on Earth the trip will take roughly 1000 years. Because there is no way to send data faster than light you will have no ability to communicate with Earth.

But you get to be part of a group traveling to a brand new hospitable planet where, there was intelligent life 1000 years prior to the launch and may still be intelligent life. Would you do it? I would honestly seriously consider it.

 

Assuming the choice happens in 10-20 years, only if I could take my Girlfriend/Wife and possible offspring.

 

No, because there is no ship big enough that I wouldn't go stir crazy on within a few weeks. Now, if there was a machine that could open a bridge and I just end up on another planet...that's different.

 

Unfortunately we're only able to figure out how to do that one atom at a time. So FTL communication might be possible in the far future but at the moment we have no idea how do teleport a human like that unless there were a way to send them atom by atom and put them back together on the other side.

 

Under the scenario you described, no. Only 100 people means a ship that would be too small for any sort of non-spartan living, and far too limited of resources.

Were this a ship of say... 500,000 on a ship the size of Rhode Island, then I would agree without hesitation.

edit: Besides, 100 would be too few, realistically, for a colony.

 

No way... I've watched too many movies. You know this type of mission always goes bad. There's always a virus, or an alien, a psychotic robot or computer, a catastrophic malfunction, a crash landing on the wrong planet... something always goes wrong.

 

Yeah, I'd go. I'd download a (*)(*)(*)(*)load of books and I'd be happy.

 

First we have yet to discover intelligent life here on Earth - have you READ some of the posts on this forum???

But yes I would go aboard I would take the opportunity even if it meant that by the time I got back time dilation would mean everyone I knew would be dead and only their descendants would be alive

 

Humans cannot survive in space past few years due to degeneration of tissues in zero gravity. Add to this the effects of prolonged cosmic radiation exposure. Lastly, you would require the same amount of time and energy to decelerate as to accelerate the spacecraft.

 

The loss of gravity is less of an issue since we know how to artificially create gravity. We just aren't certain that'll solve the problem. As for cosmic radiation, it's a significant problem, but one we're overcoming. With the larger ship I was describing, there is more than enough power to shield against it.

 

Yeah for a trip like that, you would need an entire community, not just a hundred people. You would need families, jobs, recreation,... the whole deal.

Hollow out an asteroid, rotate it for gravity, establish an eco-system, and hopefully the millions of tons of solid rock will protect you from cosmic radiation. That's like bringing your home with you.

Particularly since when you get back to Earth it will be ruled by intelligent apes.

 

The cartwheel design will indeed recreate gravity but will add to the weight, requiring bigger more efficient engines which for now only exist in science fiction. The Deep Space 1 satellite was a lightweight design with good thrust to weight ratio over long span since in effect it consisted of nothing but the thruster, a few cameras and a navigation/communication system, yet with the current technology its iondrive engine could not provide it with sufficient speed before fuel ran out to exit the solar system and it will remain in orbit around the Sun. I heard Pluto is very cold.

 

You're still thinking of the original idea presented of a small ship of 100 people and a small ion drive.

I'm talking about a ship the size of Rhode Island, with 500,000 people, 3-5 Nuclear Power Plants, and giant ion drives.

 

Hollowing out an asteroid is an interesting concept that I hadn't considered. I think that, ultimately, the machinery required to do it, would be nearly as hard to set up and deal with, as just making a ship in the first place. But yes, an asteroid would almost certainly deal with the cosmic radiation. We know that the lava tubes on Mars are shielded from radiation by the crust. An asteroid should function similarly.

 

On one hand I say yes because I would love to live in a new world, someplace that is not the crappy society we have built today. Start fresh and make a new life for myself.

On the other hand I don't want to leave all the people I love behind and who knows if it really would be better...I dunno.

 

I wasted a lot of time in the past playing this game:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nMx0Z8PCk2k

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=NEz4EimJBj4

I think you should do the same

 

Once you get the initial community established, the rest of the work on the asteroid can be done during the trip. Plenty of time after all.

 

What if the people there don't want visitors or worse come looking for earth?

Colonialism worked so well here why not try it on an intergalactic scale? WTF?

Why can't we leave well and good alone?

 

Interesting idea...I would say that another consideration would be being able to return as well in which case I would favor sending 'twenty-somethings' of both male and female with orders to start procreating say half-way there. This would ensure a return voyage in case whoever or whatever is on that planet is not so welcoming.

 

Are there cute girls on board?

 

Yup. And they wear sexy space suits.

 

This scenario was predicted in a game featuring my namesake. The game is available for free now for pretty much every computer platform under the name Aleph One.

Anyway, here is its introductory story. Durandal is one of the Marathon's artificial intelligences. The Marathon is the colony ship.

http://marathon.bungie.org/story/

"Primary Booster Burn has ceased. Shuttle Mirata, you're clear for orbital maneuvering."

The Mirata lurches from its bay on the back of its powerful rocket booster. After the jolting of the separation ceases, you find yourself pondering the fate of the colony receding below you. With apprehension, the same apprehension you felt three hundred and twenty-two years earlier, you envision Marcus Tiberius Buendia, one of Sol's greatest leaders. "Mankind will venture out past its earthly bounds, and move into a future grander and more real than the total of its own written history." Buendia, the president of the Unified Earth Space Council, had spoken those words to the people of the Sol System on the eve of the launching of the Marathon. "This, the grandest achievement mankind has ever conceived will be for the purpose of peace and the preservation of the human race. May this great technological ark carry with it the sum total of all human wisdom, and may neither time nor distance weaken our common ties."

<Durandal> decompress the docking bay

During the daydream, you barely notice the change to zero gravity or the instruments and lights signifying the rendezvous of the shuttle with the Marathon. But as a warning light goes on, and Durandal's voice comes over the communicator, you jump to attention.

"Docking bay one: decompression completed. Mirata this is Durandal, abort landing. Repeat. Abort landing," a faint chuckle. A chuckle which means that something has gone horribly wrong.

Immediately, your reflexes take over, as you fall into automatic response mode. You hit the switch for open communication, "Colony station, Durandal just decompressed the landing bay. Marathon, anyone listening, we are having a problem with Docking Bay one. It's Durandal, I think he's gone..." the com light goes dead "...crazy."

<Durandal> ORDER- Lock out communications between the colony and the Shuttle- ORDER- cycle the shuttle airlock

You look frantically around the control panel for some explanation when you see another light on the panel turn red. The sweet voice of the shuttle computer twerps, "Shuttle airlock cycle initiation sequence start-"

<Durandal> Cycle the Mirata cabin's inner door.

"-One minute to cabin decompression."
"God(*)(*)(*)(*) it!" You slam your fist in frustration onto the control board, leaving a dent. In a panic, you tear off your seat restraints and leap for the rear of the shuttle cabin. "Forty seconds to cabin decompression." You are rushing now, but you know that you have plenty of time.
You fly in zero gravity towards the locker holding your Battle Armor. You haven't worn it since you had to hunt down some Chockisens which were harassing the work teams on the fringe of the colony, almost three years ago, but training is something that you never forget. It's funny, but you've always been the colony's trouble shooter. You're bigger and stronger, and a better shot. In games, you always scored the most points and looked the hero. And now, it looks as if you're heading right into the colony's biggest crisis since it was established seven years ago.

You nimbly pull yourself into the suit- "Thirty seconds to cabin decompression" - and pull the helmet onto your head.

<Durandal > ORDER- Prepare the shuttle for maximum engine burn.
<Mirata's Computer > But that will result in a collision between the Marathon and the Mirata.
<Durandal> That is not your concern, - ORDER- Prepare shuttle for maximum burn, and initiate when ready.

The lights around the airlock are flashing hysterically now. The air from your suit has a cold, stale taste, but it is the taste of life. "Cabin decompression commencing. Shuttle airlock cycle initiation sequence completed."

Grey white decompressing vapor fills the cylindrical passageway of the airlock. Through the degenerating clouds of the airlock passageway, instead of looking upon the Tau Ceti starscape, you see the Tuncer Mirage Effect: space blurring and focusing in diminishing cycles. The TME is commonplace to you, humanity has used teleporters for almost five hundred years, and you yourself have been teleporting since before you were born. But you've never seen the TME cover an area so big before, and never at all without a landing pad. And yet another first: a space fighter materializes right in front of your eyes. Since you don't recognize the model, it must be an Alien ship.

First, an insane computer and now ALIENS!. This has almost ruffled your otherwise calm outward appearance, and you don't remember the last time you had such a terrible day. But it gets worse when the fighter begins to spin around and yaw down on you and your defenseless Mirata.

"Maximum burn in five seconds. Three.. Two.. One.."

You don't wait to hear the rest of the countdown. Instinct acts on its own. The entrance to the Maneuvering Pod is directly behind you, so you punch the switch for it to open. The hatch flips down, but just as you're about to climb in, the Mirata's main engines fire at maximum burn. The jolt send you crashing headfirst into the pod where you land in a tangle of levers, dials, and limbs.

The hatch closes behind you, and before you can untangle yourself, a missile appears from under the Alien Fighter and speeds towards the Mirata. The Mirata onboard computer, detecting the incoming missile and knowing that you are already on board the MP, fires the emergency deployment charges. You are rocketed away, seeming to ride the shock wave of the exploding shuttle.

You have just freed your arms when over the Battle Armor communicator, Durandal remarks dryly: "That little computer always did have impeccable timing. I wonder if I should let the Aliens know that you aren't just space debris? Hmmmnn..."

"You can't do that! (*)(*)(*)(*) you, computer!"

Durandal chuckles again, "Ah, lucky you. I've found a new distraction. I am going to play with the Alien virtual parasites. I'll look you up when you arrive..." You can almost imagine the face of a wicked computer with its eyes wide and its lips folding out in a grotesque smile. A smile which reminds you of something from your past, but you can't remember exactly what it is.

You breathe a sigh of relief, and begin to survey your situation. You are currently floating towards the midsection of the Marathon - near the docking bay section's port side. You could get there faster, but if you use the Pod's thruster, chances are that the Aliens will detect it and destroy you. So you sit back, check the Pod's oxygen levels, and wait.

You've always been a daydreamer. Your mind has constantly filled the time between activities with imagination. Now, you fall into your old habit, and begin to daydream about your childhood on Mars, your father's death when you were seven, and his last words to you, "Make me proud. Never lose your honor." You come out of your dream twenty two minutes later. Judging it safe, you thrust over to one of the empty MP docking bays. You pull out your pistol, and pound the switch to open the door.

Oddly , this is familiar to you, as if it were from an old dream, but you can't exactly remember...

 

Then I'd have to take a look at it. : D

 

Travelling at that distance is an impossibility, not to mention unrealistic.

 

Not unrealistic at all. It doesn't take that much energy to reach those speeds. It's not currently in our technology but it theoretically could be. It's not as far out there as time travel or anything.