Nasa worth it? (thread split)

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 08:50

Originally Posted by Blubbartron

Inertial Dampeners. Worked for Star Trek!

lol

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 08:50

I was waiting for that. Nice.

**Kryssan** · 2013-01-24 11:08

Originally Posted by kuronosan

So question - theoretically say a ship is moving in space at near-light speeds. How do you slow it down at such a speed so as to not kill everyone inside?

Deploy your solar sail like a parachute.

Obvious.

**Niiro** · 2013-01-24 13:20

Kidding aside, if you pointed a solar sail in the direction the craft was moving that's essentially what it would do.

Push is push, anything used to accelerate can be used to decelerate.

**Waraji** · 2013-01-24 13:23

Originally Posted by Niiro

Kidding aside, if you pointed a solar sail in the direction the craft was moving that's essentially what it would do.

Push is push, anything used to accelerate can be used to decelerate.

And from what direction are these magic photons of yours coming from? The only way that would work in your scenario, is if the craft is/has been moving in the direction of another star, or photon emitting entity.

Also, decelerate is not a legitimate word in physics.

Edit: Yay for Science thread!

**Deadgye** · 2013-01-24 14:02

Originally Posted by Kryssan

Deploy your solar sail like a parachute.

Obvious.

I had this written up. And then didn't post it because I thought I would sound too silly.

**Pirian** · 2013-01-24 14:24

Originally Posted by kuronosan

So question - theoretically say a ship is moving in space at near-light speeds. How do you slow it down at such a speed so as to not kill everyone inside?

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 14:31

Originally Posted by Waraji

And from what direction are these magic photons of yours coming from? The only way that would work in your scenario, is if the craft is/has been moving in the direction of another star, or photon emitting entity.

Also, decelerate is not a legitimate word in physics.

Edit: Yay for Science thread!

*thumbs up

**kuronosan** · 2013-01-24 14:48

You know, I'm just asking a serious question because 1) I'm not a physicist and 2) The discussion interests me.

Fuck sake.

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 14:52

Originally Posted by kuronosan

You know, I'm just asking a serious question because 1) I'm not a physicist and 2) The discussion interests me.

Fuck sake.

lol QQ

**kuronosan** · 2013-01-24 14:53

No, more like disappointed. I was making an earnest attempt to learn something new and nothing resulted from it. No tears here.

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 15:03

Originally Posted by kuronosan

So question - theoretically say a ship is moving in space at near-light speeds. How do you slow it down at such a speed so as to not kill everyone inside?

Ok, you've earned it. Accelerating and overcome the amount of Gs a human can withstand would be the real problem. The average person can withstand 3G while someone trained can tolerate 6 in non-pressurized environments iirc for very short intervals. Anything more than that and youre as good as dead. This entire scenario is best suited for someone dabbling in the realm of theoretical physics, which isnt my strong suit.

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 15:04

Originally Posted by kuronosan

No, more like disappointed. I was making an earnest attempt to learn something new and nothing resulted from it. No tears here.

Wasnt give you shit, the tears were from all the answers

**Niiro** · 2013-01-24 15:05

Originally Posted by Waraji

And from what direction are these magic photons of yours coming from? The only way that would work in your scenario, is if the craft is/has been moving in the direction of another star, or photon emitting entity.

Also, decelerate is not a legitimate word in physics.

Edit: Yay for Science thread!

It was obviously working on the assumption that you were heading toward another stellar body which really isn't a very big assumption.

What would be the "proper" word to use in place of decelerate?

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 15:05

But yeah, getting going and attempting to approach C would be the first and largest hurdle. Stopping is one of those "lets cross that bridge when we get to it" sort of things

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 15:09

Originally Posted by Niiro

It was obviously working on the assumption that you were heading toward another stellar body which really isn't a very big assumption.

Assuming you're heading to another body, what you would do idealy is let that body's gravity bring you into its orbit, if you dont want to stop, stay away from its gravitational tug. We use these techniques now. The Voyager crafts where practically 'sling-shot' out and gained speed using the gravity from the orbiting planets in our system. Mars rovers, WMAP Satellite etc..

**Niiro** · 2013-01-24 15:15

I know we make use of gravity as a brake/slingshot with crafts already, the solar sail comment was just referring to the concept that it actually could be used to slow down something if you actually wanted to (since it does work much like a wind sail in many ways).

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 15:27

There is no drag in a vacuum, so a chute will not slow things down like it can or does here on Earth. Unless like you stated earlier, if you were flying towards another star that was ejecting particles in that hypothetical direction, but that would slow you down so slowly it wouldnt be worth the effort.

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 15:28

But yes it could work in theory, but would be cumbersome and would suck as a braking system so to speak.

**Mizango** · 2013-01-24 15:29

Too many variables in stopping that you dont have to account for in accelerating towards a body.

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