@mik3p0wer It makes perfect sense. Look up special relativity, spacial relativity, time dilation, and FTL travel. It's all there. You're traveling at speeds that beat light to it's destination. Such incredible speeds you're traveling thousands of miles in micro seconds. Think of it like the sound barrier. Planes moving so fast that the sound has to catch up moments after it has already past.
Damn right. Nuclear energy is cheaper to run compared to shitty wind farms. Too bad the left wing govts around the world are all dumb hippies that don't believe in this. Even Labor's darling Ross Garnaut said that Nuclear Energy is not to be dismissed when trying to cut our emissions down.
The forces binding matter together would not continue to operate at velocities approaching even fractions of the speed of light. Think of velocity as temperature. Organisms would literally boil, then begin emitting radiation as all hot bodies must, till the stuff of our starship became nothing but gamma rays. I say if you want to travel the stars you must find other tech.
@gukonni It has to do with effects of relativity and construct of space-time, which is explained using complex mathematics. Very queer stuff if you are new to it and impossible to explain here. But very crudely, it says that as velocity approches the speed of light (c), say 99% of c, time slows down for whatever is traveling at that velocity WHEN COMPARED to something left behind. Assuming constant acceleration, closer you get to c, the more time slows, so you can go farther in less time.
FACT: An Orion ship can carry 100,000 ISP's of nuclear fuel-- that means it can accelerate at 1G for 50,000 seconds-- or about 14 hours, before it only has enough fuel to stop by decelerating for another 14 hours at 1G.
Check the numbers: it will accelerate for 14 hours at 1G, coast for about 20 hours at zero G's, and then decelerate for another 14 hours at 1G, ending up at Mars, 50,000,000km away..
To refuel, send fuel to Mars ahead of time, slow.
nuclear explosions are banned in space, and yet our sun and all stars are powered by nuclear reactions in their cores. I think nuclear explosions in space should be allowed, but perhaps at the orbit of mars.
Personally, I would prefer 'orbital towers' to get to geostationary orbit. And dysonsphere type launchers and stable wormhole linking our explorations? Maybe we will just find a way to 'beam' ourselves across interstellar space?
live in a matrix style civilization 'virtual' travel thru space?
I'd rather stay on Earth, it has everything we need, and we don't need to go circumnavigate the galaxy if Earth has everything we could possibly want.
so sad.. most of the population can't even understand the genius of carl sagan and the importance of his teachings. in my class people used to make fun of how he dresses, not even bothering to listen to what he has to say. pathetic people...
@focista6 - Well you know, depends of many things like: Education, mentality, knowledge, etc. And keep in mind: Nobody's perfect. So yes, you're right but you must respect the differences.
I invented a breakthrough energy source which violates the law of energy conservation. I have a PROOF that there are electrodynamic phenomena which violate the law of energy conservation (and also experimental evidence of such phenomena). Making a 6 kW generator will cost $1200, value of the energy produced yearly $5400, zero operating costs. I am looking for $300 000 for a prototype and for $3M for patents.
@jimmayl1 All physicists support widely accepted false theories, including those on editorial board of physics journals. They will not publish it - it is a secret, even though top physicists knew since 1861 that it is possible to violate the law of conservation of energy.
@henrykay01 I'm a physicist. I'd need to see proof or evidence of such a method, not a conspiracy theory. You do know that everything is peer reviewed, and based on this it will, or will not be published?
@jimmayl1 My email address is in my contact box. I can send you proofs that it is possible to violate the law of energy conservation, but I do not disclose how my invention works.
@jimmayl1 The principles of perpetual motion are so simple that they hardly require published peer reviews. There are not enough physicists around to answer everyone`s questions - it will simply be utilised. Anyway you can go and theorise everything till its non-existent anyway! [watch this space]
I disagree with the 1000 years to 10,000 years time table for humanities time table on the invention of Interstellar flight. The technology is more than just the cube of power output over the efficiency of the plant times the materials being converted. Developing technologies could emerge into major game changers? It's possible to build a singularity reactor? A power plant the size of a water heater with 99.9% of mass inside an 'electromagnetic field' about the size of a grain of sand?
its like a sailing ship powered by a fan onboard the only thrust would be from the accelaration of the explosive matter out of the back the plate would receive the same force in the opposing direction and it is attached to the ship to once again this makes no sense and wouldnt work
I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that NASA; as well as the greatest scientists, physicists, and engineers in the world; as well as CARL SAGAN understand these things better than you do.
Wrong. Orion actually COULD be built TODAY. Hell, it could have been built back then (the only real problem would have been getting up to space, although today with enough funds we could actually BUILD it in space) It just uses nukes. It WOULD work, and we KNOW it.
Daedelus , THAT one is theoretical but still perfectly probable. It WOULD work, we just don't have the tech for it yet.
"RideMyBMW, from you I hear the voice of the uneducated ignorant minority" - tskasa1
Oh yeah ? Well fu%$ you and yo monkey assed spaceship muthfu$#a! Nuclear energyz for fu%$in Cromags, numbnuts! Anti-grav, dark matter, transdimensional propulsion....THATS the future ya dumb fu$#!
.....Oh no! Unlimited, free, plentiful energy for everyone in the world! The cure to every disease EVER made! Humanity in space where it can continue to expand near-infinitely. I have such a bleak future! Such a bleak, unpromising, uneducated future!
Also, you seem to be completely ignoring the fact that ALL that stuff your talking about would NEVER exist without us first being able to realize what Sagan is talking about. He is talking about what is on the fringe of what we knew we could build in HIS time. Today, the most advanced thing we can imagine is a warp engine (like, a real, literal one, it's actually possible). Technology evolves. THAT is the future, as is everything after it.
Also, I find it funny that you talk about transdimensional propulsion when you probably don't know what the fuck it is. You also are completely ignoring the fact that dark matter has NO use in space travel, it's just really heavy invisible stuff. AND that anti-grav is actually impossible technology because it is impossible to repulse make negative gravity.
WTF is up with those stupid politicians and ignorant enviromentalist or so signing that treaty against nuclear explosions in space? The sun is a fucking giant nuclear generator just like every other stars big enough in space!!! Fuck they are astronomically stupid!
America did want to develop space nukes back then, and as recently as Bush. Had the Orion project been undertaken we'd quite likely now have American, Russian and perhaps Chinese or Israeli nukes in orbit, and possibly a really impressive space ship that did nothing for the fast bulk of the human race but was a good PR exercise and made some corporations rich...
Who here would be brave enough to go on a 30,000 year journey? And to return to earth billions of years later? When I was a child I said I would do it....now...I'm not too sure.
In reality Bussard Ramjet can't accelerate indefinitely. It can only accelerate until it's thrust is equal to the drag induced by the interstellar medium. The faster it goes the stronger the drag. How fast can it go? Depends on design and the efficiency of it's fusion rocket but definitely much slower than 99-point-something percent the speed of light
The drag a Bussard design encounters would depend severely on how the scooped-up material has to be fed into the reactor. If it has to be slowed down to a stop before being injected into the reactor, the drag would be such that the spacecraft could never exceed its own exhaust velocity -- and the exhaust velocity from PERFECT hydrogen-to-helium fusion is only 11% of the speed of light.
Daedalus was a master inventor and architect from Greek mythology, which is what the project was named after. You're thinking of Daedelus the musician, different spelling different meaning.
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And his invention was so badly made that when it flew to close to the sun, the wings melted and it went crashing to earth, killing his son. That's why it seems a rather silly name.
@Unwardil Yeah, but the secondary moral of the story is no longer irrelevant; nor is it out of our control in this scenario: Don't get too close to the sun. Or in this case: a sun.
His invention worked. His son Icarus ignored his warnings and flew too high, the wax melted and he fell to his death. Daedalus on the other hand survived and flew back to Sicily without incident.
The name is intended to evoke good judgement and prudence for a ship and its crew.
Maybe this is why we can't find aliens. They become capable of relativistic travel, and can't resist experiencing journeys to the end of space and time. Their curiosity about the long-term fate of the universe gets the better of them.
The problem with arguments like those is that they assume that all aliens behave the same way. Even if there is a evolutionary path that results in sentient beings behaving in that way, statistically there should be some that act different.
In addition to that, our species is one of individuals, an alien race will like do all possible choices given time and resources unless they are some single intelligence.
The time it takes to travel the vast distances would help explain it though.
@1RadicalOne the old one could still have worked, need't only some auxilory propulser to get a little far, but not that much far. The sun itself is a giant nuclear reactor and I know it is really far but it is VERY VERY VERY stronger than an initial nuclear explosion at the tip of the ship would be.
what would make me laugh is: you leave Earth via fusion power, reach your destination after 20 years only to find a welcoming committee from Earth who developed a faster than light engine 500 years after you left
There was an Asimov sci fi like that, a space ship finds a distant civilization, very advanced and abandoned planets, they follow the civilization to other solar systems, only to discover it was humans who developed way faster travel after they had left.
it is a very cool concept.
can't remember the name of the book, it might have been a short story.
@xaocam Umm... its basically time travelling into the future... i'd go.. because i know im not going to live for 500 years!! Just think of the tech you'd have access to once you arrive!
@xaocam Well, this is why the equation "faster than light = time warp" is false. Being faster than light doesnt mean that time "slows down". Ship-time and the earth-time are disconnected (relative terms). After your journey You'll find yourself in another space-time. Counting years is meaningless. Furthermore it's not proven that nothing can reach the speed of light or couldn't be faster. Whats proven so far is that we have no way of detecting such speeds.
If I could bring someone back to life anytime in the future, I would bring Carl Sagan back at a time where we are traveling to the stars, he must have loved the universe so much, it is my dream and probably was his to venture across the universe.
So you get half way to your destination with your Bussard Ramjet, then you turn the ship around and deccelerate the rest of the way? rofl, there's limits to how much you can dumb this down without it not making sense XD
Also, Orion is perfectly good for surface launches, provided you know how to reduce fallout (launching from a flat steel launchpad, using larger amounts of explosives in ur nukes => greater efficiency, ect.), which is where it's at it's most useful anyway.
Well, u know how ur Ramjet compresses ur hydrogen (H ions) to make it fuse, right? fusion heats it up and u expand it through a rocket nozzle behind the scoop. The net effect is that u accelerate H ions that go through ur scoop. If you want to turn ur scoop the other way around and thrust backwards, u'd have to stop ur H ions in their tracks and push them out the front. That's not possible when ur @ ~10% c or faster, ur magnetic field would need to be unrealistically strong.
Could the ramjet simply create hit the hydrogens with it's laser and make them H ions, then deflect them with a similarly charged magnetic field, thus ceasing its intake of ions at the halfway point, after having used up all the hydrogen for fuel?
But still, there are problems with the Ramscoop in general - fusion is hard enough with "deutirium + tritium => Helium + neutron" (the only kind of fusion we can do currently), but you'd need to use "proton + proton => deutirium + electron" which is slower and releases much less energy. If you were sufficiently advanced, you might be able to force a "Proton-Proton Chain" (wiki) like in the sun, which is much better, but far more difficult to do through a non-planet-sized engine.
But the point is that u wouldn't need a backwards ramscoop to slow down. If u want to slow down and ur moving through a fluid, it's easy; the fluid does it for u. Air resistance, right? If u just make a big magnetic field that slows down (slightly) lots of H ions, u'd have a sort of "parachute" that slows u down. Looking back, I was far too harsh; u'd still need power for ur parachute, which u could get from fusion, but blue-shifted light on solar panels will do just as well for much less effort
I was under the impression that the ramjet had to turn about because that would be the only way to decelerate fast enough to reach it's target safely? Retro-thrusters don't seem to be able to slow down the thing from such high speeds in time to be able to do that.
Actually, if the ramjet is backwards, how does it get H+/- into it's scoop to be able to move? Does it store them?
Nah, a Ramscoop would only just make more thrust than drag, which makes sense since it's much easier to slow down when the wind is moving against you than it is to speed up. Infact, even using some other method of propulsion (ie Orion), slowing down with a huge magnetic field is still a pretty reasonable idea.
And... that's the bit I don't get; to store them, or even fuse them, you'd need to slow them close to a stop, which is very difficult when you're moving a decent fraction of c.
Maybe the whole contraption just uses loads of magnetic fields to fure the hydrogen close together inside it's belly? Perhaps it doesn't stop them completely but makes them stop with respect to the ship?
alas, the hydrogen is moving with respect to the ship at the same speed as the ship is moving with respect to interstellar space - ie very fast indeed. If it wasn't, you wouldn't get it hot enough for fusion. When it's running the right way, you only need to slow the hydrogen down alittle (compared to how fast it's going) to compress it and heat it up massively (100 keV per H+ is ~9 billion joules, which is the energy difference between 1 kilo moving at 30,000,000 m/s and 29,999,800 m/s XD)
This video's title and description are deceptive as to what it's actually about. It gives the impression that Carl Sagan is in favour of Nuclear Energy as a possible alternative means of powering the earth whereas it's actually to do with using Nuclear fusion for the sake of powering a spacecraft to achieve speeds close to the speed of light. People who oppose Nuclear power oppose the fission aspect (can't blame 'em with the way the profit system works) and often favour fusion, but thats future.
.10c would equal the total time to travel to Mars at just over 450 seconds, or 7.5 minutes. That's 7 minutes 30 seconds of flight time, versus the currently estimated 6 months of flight time it currently takes to travel to the red planet. I see no reason why we couldn't construct this ship orbiting the moon, use conventional rockets to get us to the moon in 3 days, and then launch from the moon to mars aboard the thermonuclear powered Orion space craft.
not accurate, you must account for the acceleration required, it would be in order of magnitude of a week (several weeks perhaps) to get to Mars or any other destination within the solar system.
You've claimed that nuclear energy is the fundamental energy force of the universe.
I disagree. Gravity is one clue to what I'm alluding to - the other is the necessity for an 'absolute' sub quantum medium. Absolute in terms of spatial placement and time.
Giving rise to relative time and relative spatial placement of every sub-atomic particle - all the way down to the neutrino.
Nuclear energy is a double edged sword like all other good things, Fossil fuels were good until we started to run out, Nuclear energy is something that could be great if we use it for the right reasons, but unfortunately most human beings cant be trusted, its sad...
Re your comment: "Nuclear energy is something that could be great if we use it for the right reasons, but unfortunately most human beings cant be trusted, its sad..."
Good point you make there. Putting nuclear energy aside - if there was a clean, powerful and portable (for use in aircraft for instance) solution that replaced fossil fuel for good, how responsible would mankind be with it's use?
I believe that question is even more important than the energy solution itself.
Man's hope for long term survival is in space..He must colonize other worlds and grow like a weed..ever expanding so when one world no longer is hospitable..he has hundreds of others..just like the creation of the world wide web..was to survive a nuclear war, one server/computer goes down..hundreds of other in the web,can survive and go on..same idea man needs for it's long terms survival in the galaxy and beyond..
guys just look up nikola teslas technology, he sent industrial energy faster than light through the earth allowing a world energy and internet with the aspect of instantaneous transmission! this same technology could be used on board a ship to go faster than light and you wont have to watch the world dissappear either! go across the universe and back in an instant and still see everyone in your time. i put up videos on how the wireless eneergy transfer works, next would be spacecraft!!
I don't get this bullcrap about 21 years vs thousands of years, if they come back with the same speed it would still take only 2*21+something earth years, IMO
It's called The Twin Paradox. Your ship has to accelerate and decelerate.
It takes thousand of years to the observers on Earth, if the distance travelled is thousand of lightyears, no matter how fast the ship is going. The crew of the ship may experience only few years, if the ship is fast enough...
Please, learn some special relativity, before making statements like that. It's a measured fact that time dilation happens. You only need two atomic clocks and one aeroplane. One atomic clock is left on Earth and other is put into the aeroplane. After the flight, the clocks show different time!
These ideas are just that... ideas. It's been decades since they came up with them, if they were even close to feasible, we would be traveling through the stars already
Bob1qaz, I agree with the first part of your comment.. and this WoIYou is losing his mind but yeah. I don't really like America.. Mostly its shitty goverment and it's own proud.. it's kinda self destructive and it will take any country down with itself.. American these days believe everything they see on tv's. No offence I know it has become a stereotype, but a true one.. 50% believes in UFO's that have been on the earth. For example.. No offence the ppl lack education and self thinking.
Wow, interesting. I never really considered interstellar travel plausible, though I had always hoped it to be possible, for the sake of the human race. I am not sure whether these ideas could actually be put into action, but now I am forced to reconsider the possibilities.
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This is the point of view of a man from the 1970s. You shouldn't take him for serious today. Nuclear space-ships. Lol. Typical US-american. Explosions! Nuclear fusion? Doesn't work. What works is ionic drives. And thats whats on the market now. The only feasible space-motor so far. Sagan not even mentioned it. Thats why the truth is a child of time :)
any1 explain how 50 years in space traveling at light speed would be 10000000000000000000000 years in the earth?
mik3p0wer 4 weeks ago
@mik3p0wer Relativity.
OpenMawProductions 1 week ago
@OpenMawProductions still makes no sense
mik3p0wer 1 week ago
@mik3p0wer It makes perfect sense. Look up special relativity, spacial relativity, time dilation, and FTL travel. It's all there. You're traveling at speeds that beat light to it's destination. Such incredible speeds you're traveling thousands of miles in micro seconds. Think of it like the sound barrier. Planes moving so fast that the sound has to catch up moments after it has already past.
OpenMawProductions 1 week ago
Damn right. Nuclear energy is cheaper to run compared to shitty wind farms. Too bad the left wing govts around the world are all dumb hippies that don't believe in this. Even Labor's darling Ross Garnaut said that Nuclear Energy is not to be dismissed when trying to cut our emissions down.
yourgasm 1 month ago
so why dont we do this
cH33zewarri0r 1 month ago
So instead of putting the thousands of H-bombs we have stockpiled on a project like this, we decided to just let them sit around in warehouses. Nice.
LiberalJerseyman 1 month ago
@focista6
the world is dumb and mad
don't mind them
ilifeform 3 months ago
The "interstellar ramjet with the scoops "hundreds of kilometers across" would make a very cool Sci-Fi series.
kingofmilwaukee6969 4 months ago
only in a monetaryless planet will we be able to advance more efficiently .
phackqu 4 months ago
"...we are talking of engines the size of small worlds..."
BatusaiJack 4 months ago
3:22 a frontal scope hundreds of kilometers across
BatusaiJack 4 months ago
in deep space there is only 1 hydrogen atom for ever 10 cubic centimeters of space
BatusaiJack 4 months ago
humongous interstellar ship.
BatusaiJack 4 months ago
22/m/pa(usa) i could listen to carl sagan talk all day i wish i could have met him
goaliedude32 4 months ago
The forces binding matter together would not continue to operate at velocities approaching even fractions of the speed of light. Think of velocity as temperature. Organisms would literally boil, then begin emitting radiation as all hot bodies must, till the stuff of our starship became nothing but gamma rays. I say if you want to travel the stars you must find other tech.
tpotstout 5 months ago
i could listen to him teach forever
wendylack 5 months ago 8
I don't understand how traveling closer and closer to the speed of light allows them to navigate the known universe in.. 56 years.
How?
gukonni 5 months ago
@gukonni It has to do with effects of relativity and construct of space-time, which is explained using complex mathematics. Very queer stuff if you are new to it and impossible to explain here. But very crudely, it says that as velocity approches the speed of light (c), say 99% of c, time slows down for whatever is traveling at that velocity WHEN COMPARED to something left behind. Assuming constant acceleration, closer you get to c, the more time slows, so you can go farther in less time.
dewfall56 5 months ago
Well Obozo cancelled the lastest NASA ship program. Enjoy your "hope' and "change" suckers.
GeekBoy03 5 months ago
@GeekBoy03
We could get to Mars in 2 days with nuclear starships.
SovereignStatesman 5 months ago
@SovereignStatesman Show me a peer reviewed paper which shows this.
GeekBoy03 5 months ago
@GeekBoy03
You're a geek, you review it.:D
FACT: An Orion ship can carry 100,000 ISP's of nuclear fuel-- that means it can accelerate at 1G for 50,000 seconds-- or about 14 hours, before it only has enough fuel to stop by decelerating for another 14 hours at 1G.
Check the numbers: it will accelerate for 14 hours at 1G, coast for about 20 hours at zero G's, and then decelerate for another 14 hours at 1G, ending up at Mars, 50,000,000km away..
To refuel, send fuel to Mars ahead of time, slow.
SovereignStatesman 5 months ago
nuclear explosions are banned in space, and yet our sun and all stars are powered by nuclear reactions in their cores. I think nuclear explosions in space should be allowed, but perhaps at the orbit of mars.
bombarderoazul 7 months ago
Grrr, fuck you aging!
Unbeginner 8 months ago
Subbing :)
jaredknightcom 9 months ago
Personally, I would prefer 'orbital towers' to get to geostationary orbit. And dysonsphere type launchers and stable wormhole linking our explorations? Maybe we will just find a way to 'beam' ourselves across interstellar space?
live in a matrix style civilization 'virtual' travel thru space?
granddad2002 9 months ago
maybe we have already done it and returned...as aliens.
youkeylaylee 9 months ago
I'd rather stay on Earth, it has everything we need, and we don't need to go circumnavigate the galaxy if Earth has everything we could possibly want.
yellowmetalcyborg 11 months ago
Something no one seems to notice is the absolutely brilliant music in all of Carl Sagan's videos.
Ashitaka255 1 year ago 2
*sigh*
TheFluffyDuck 1 year ago
song at 2:14 makes me think of the once was british empire. i could sip tea and rest my feet on a nigger whilst listening to this all day
british123able 1 year ago
so sad.. most of the population can't even understand the genius of carl sagan and the importance of his teachings. in my class people used to make fun of how he dresses, not even bothering to listen to what he has to say. pathetic people...
focista6 1 year ago 22
@focista6
Show them pale blue dot !
If that can't melt their heart and open their eyes..
homerilias 1 year ago
@focista6 - Well you know, depends of many things like: Education, mentality, knowledge, etc. And keep in mind: Nobody's perfect. So yes, you're right but you must respect the differences.
NetTubeUser 3 months ago in playlist carl sagan cosmology universe science astrology
@focista6 So sad indeed :'(
RichtoffenRoach 3 months ago
Carl Sagan > Chuck Norris.
ThermalHD 1 year ago
A nuclear fusion craft by mid 21st century...anyone else get the feeling we've been slacking a little?
Irishflyboy255 1 year ago
Today......i'll bash yuor head with this tube XD he's the best
qwertyzupoi 1 year ago
I invented a breakthrough energy source which violates the law of energy conservation. I have a PROOF that there are electrodynamic phenomena which violate the law of energy conservation (and also experimental evidence of such phenomena). Making a 6 kW generator will cost $1200, value of the energy produced yearly $5400, zero operating costs. I am looking for $300 000 for a prototype and for $3M for patents.
H. Tomasz Grzybowski
tel. +48-512-933-540
henrykay01 1 year ago
@henrykay01 Have you published your results?
jimmayl1 1 year ago
@jimmayl1 All physicists support widely accepted false theories, including those on editorial board of physics journals. They will not publish it - it is a secret, even though top physicists knew since 1861 that it is possible to violate the law of conservation of energy.
henrykay01 1 year ago
@henrykay01 I'm a physicist. I'd need to see proof or evidence of such a method, not a conspiracy theory. You do know that everything is peer reviewed, and based on this it will, or will not be published?
jimmayl1 1 year ago
@jimmayl1 My email address is in my contact box. I can send you proofs that it is possible to violate the law of energy conservation, but I do not disclose how my invention works.
henrykay01 1 year ago
This has been flagged as spam show
@henrykay01 And I'm sure you would be wasting your time posting on youtube.
tonoolvera 1 year ago
@henrykay01 We don`t need proof thankyou. We can prove it to ourselves!
AClarke2007 1 year ago
@jimmayl1 The principles of perpetual motion are so simple that they hardly require published peer reviews. There are not enough physicists around to answer everyone`s questions - it will simply be utilised. Anyway you can go and theorise everything till its non-existent anyway! [watch this space]
AClarke2007 1 year ago
I disagree with the 1000 years to 10,000 years time table for humanities time table on the invention of Interstellar flight. The technology is more than just the cube of power output over the efficiency of the plant times the materials being converted. Developing technologies could emerge into major game changers? It's possible to build a singularity reactor? A power plant the size of a water heater with 99.9% of mass inside an 'electromagnetic field' about the size of a grain of sand?
granddad2002 1 year ago
min 0:55 "personally, the Orion is the best use of nuclear weapons I can think of"
Wrong, the best use fer nukes would be to fu%$in evaporate that epicly gay bowl cut ya got goin on, Sagan the fu$#in Pagan!
RideMyBMW 1 year ago
"Engines the size of small worlds." Mind boggling.
MonkeyFunkR 1 year ago
this wouldnt work
its like a sailing ship powered by a fan onboard the only thrust would be from the accelaration of the explosive matter out of the back the plate would receive the same force in the opposing direction and it is attached to the ship to once again this makes no sense and wouldnt work
milolouis 1 year ago
@milolouis
I'm going to go out on a limb here and assume that NASA; as well as the greatest scientists, physicists, and engineers in the world; as well as CARL SAGAN understand these things better than you do.
tskasa1 1 year ago
@tskasa1 he says they haven't even invented fusion yet this video is a possible projection of the future and not factual
milolouis 1 year ago
@milolouis
I know.
Wrong. Orion actually COULD be built TODAY. Hell, it could have been built back then (the only real problem would have been getting up to space, although today with enough funds we could actually BUILD it in space) It just uses nukes. It WOULD work, and we KNOW it.
Daedelus , THAT one is theoretical but still perfectly probable. It WOULD work, we just don't have the tech for it yet.
@RideMyBMW
From you I hear voice of the uneducated ignorant minority.....
tskasa1 1 year ago
"RideMyBMW, from you I hear the voice of the uneducated ignorant minority" - tskasa1
Oh yeah ? Well fu%$ you and yo monkey assed spaceship muthfu$#a! Nuclear energyz for fu%$in Cromags, numbnuts! Anti-grav, dark matter, transdimensional propulsion....THATS the future ya dumb fu$#!
RideMyBMW 1 year ago
@RideMyBMW
.....Oh no! Unlimited, free, plentiful energy for everyone in the world! The cure to every disease EVER made! Humanity in space where it can continue to expand near-infinitely. I have such a bleak future! Such a bleak, unpromising, uneducated future!
tskasa1 1 year ago
@RideMyBMW
Also, you seem to be completely ignoring the fact that ALL that stuff your talking about would NEVER exist without us first being able to realize what Sagan is talking about. He is talking about what is on the fringe of what we knew we could build in HIS time. Today, the most advanced thing we can imagine is a warp engine (like, a real, literal one, it's actually possible). Technology evolves. THAT is the future, as is everything after it.
tskasa1 1 year ago
@RideMyBMW
Also, I find it funny that you talk about transdimensional propulsion when you probably don't know what the fuck it is. You also are completely ignoring the fact that dark matter has NO use in space travel, it's just really heavy invisible stuff. AND that anti-grav is actually impossible technology because it is impossible to repulse make negative gravity.
tskasa1 1 year ago
Funny xaocam lol so true though
americanenergyfields 1 year ago
pointless
nemesisnick66 1 year ago
WTF is up with those stupid politicians and ignorant enviromentalist or so signing that treaty against nuclear explosions in space? The sun is a fucking giant nuclear generator just like every other stars big enough in space!!! Fuck they are astronomically stupid!
2CSST2 1 year ago
America did want to develop space nukes back then, and as recently as Bush. Had the Orion project been undertaken we'd quite likely now have American, Russian and perhaps Chinese or Israeli nukes in orbit, and possibly a really impressive space ship that did nothing for the fast bulk of the human race but was a good PR exercise and made some corporations rich...
Tuathalful 1 year ago
Who here would be brave enough to go on a 30,000 year journey? And to return to earth billions of years later? When I was a child I said I would do it....now...I'm not too sure.
rontayan 1 year ago
20 years later we still havent mastered controlled fusion reactors ... : (
wowggscrub 1 year ago
In reality Bussard Ramjet can't accelerate indefinitely. It can only accelerate until it's thrust is equal to the drag induced by the interstellar medium. The faster it goes the stronger the drag. How fast can it go? Depends on design and the efficiency of it's fusion rocket but definitely much slower than 99-point-something percent the speed of light
Jacnas 2 years ago 4
The drag a Bussard design encounters would depend severely on how the scooped-up material has to be fed into the reactor. If it has to be slowed down to a stop before being injected into the reactor, the drag would be such that the spacecraft could never exceed its own exhaust velocity -- and the exhaust velocity from PERFECT hydrogen-to-helium fusion is only 11% of the speed of light.
rogermwilcox 1 year ago
solar wind would blow the ship apart don't you think?
popeyeus 2 years ago
geesh
longfootbuddy 2 years ago
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Really?
The Daedelus?
REALLY?
The project name for a theoretical space ship was named the Daedelus?
Sigh...
Unwardil 2 years ago
Daedalus was a master inventor and architect from Greek mythology, which is what the project was named after. You're thinking of Daedelus the musician, different spelling different meaning.
Sacredor 2 years ago
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And his invention was so badly made that when it flew to close to the sun, the wings melted and it went crashing to earth, killing his son. That's why it seems a rather silly name.
Unwardil 2 years ago
@Unwardil Yeah, but the secondary moral of the story is no longer irrelevant; nor is it out of our control in this scenario: Don't get too close to the sun. Or in this case: a sun.
QuestioCunctus 2 years ago
His invention worked. His son Icarus ignored his warnings and flew too high, the wax melted and he fell to his death. Daedalus on the other hand survived and flew back to Sicily without incident.
The name is intended to evoke good judgement and prudence for a ship and its crew.
richiebabe24 2 years ago 4
is the density requirements for a controlled nuclear fusion reaction
a limiting factor in the quantity of Deuterium fuel used ?
just curious
bIZAROsPRMN11 2 years ago
Maybe this is why we can't find aliens. They become capable of relativistic travel, and can't resist experiencing journeys to the end of space and time. Their curiosity about the long-term fate of the universe gets the better of them.
perfectionbox 2 years ago 5
The problem with arguments like those is that they assume that all aliens behave the same way. Even if there is a evolutionary path that results in sentient beings behaving in that way, statistically there should be some that act different.
In addition to that, our species is one of individuals, an alien race will like do all possible choices given time and resources unless they are some single intelligence.
The time it takes to travel the vast distances would help explain it though.
EbilPhish 2 years ago
That was supposed to be a response to the comment below, but it seem that YouTube still doesn't handle the 'reply' button correctly.
EbilPhish 2 years ago
Some sick minds in the 60's! Love it.
barthoedemaker 2 years ago
Carl Sagan <3
Harold1305 2 years ago 3
Carl Sagan > YOU
mythosminion 2 years ago 57
Carl Sagan > God
deeppurple28 5 months ago
@deeppurple28 Sagan certainly thought so. Wonder what he thinks now....
Halo4Lyf 5 months ago
@deeppurple28 Indeed XD
RichtoffenRoach 3 months ago
@mythosminion
Norman Borlaug>Carl Sagan>You>Any politician
TheReasonWhyGuy 3 months ago
He is scary.
XANDERXXZ 2 years ago
I wish humans had ramjets...
1RadicalOne 2 years ago
is that a joke.
XANDERXXZ 2 years ago
No; why do you ask?
1RadicalOne 2 years ago
because we do have ramjets
XANDERXXZ 2 years ago
No, you don't.
1RadicalOne 2 years ago
well i personaly dont, but ramjets that are put on supersonic jets do exist.
XANDERXXZ 2 years ago
I was referring to interstellar ramjets, not atmospheric ones.
1RadicalOne 2 years ago
Then you should have said that shouldnt you.
XANDERXXZ 2 years ago
@XANDERXXZ
Given the topic at hand, I would have thought it obvious.
1RadicalOne 2 years ago 3
Orion - the old one - was a stupid idea unless used far, far, FAR from anything inhabited. The new one works well.
1RadicalOne 2 years ago
Or in case of invasion by octo-tentacled elephants.
McConsumer 2 years ago
@1RadicalOne the old one could still have worked, need't only some auxilory propulser to get a little far, but not that much far. The sun itself is a giant nuclear reactor and I know it is really far but it is VERY VERY VERY stronger than an initial nuclear explosion at the tip of the ship would be.
2CSST2 1 year ago
Yes, but Sol is 1.5x10^8 km away from Terra.
A nuclear detonation within a few light-seconds - approximately twice the radius of Luna's orbit - would cause havoc with the satellites.
Sol does too, when its fury is vented in this direction.
1RadicalOne 1 year ago
We need to figure out how to bend time.... go figure... im favoriting this video. if thats a word.
YOWHATTHEHELLUP71 2 years ago
what would make me laugh is: you leave Earth via fusion power, reach your destination after 20 years only to find a welcoming committee from Earth who developed a faster than light engine 500 years after you left
xaocam 2 years ago 89
That would make a good book or movie
Seriosly
Dexcorp5 2 years ago
There was an Asimov sci fi like that, a space ship finds a distant civilization, very advanced and abandoned planets, they follow the civilization to other solar systems, only to discover it was humans who developed way faster travel after they had left.
it is a very cool concept.
can't remember the name of the book, it might have been a short story.
marsCubed 2 years ago
@xaocam LoL! Then they lap you on the way there and back.
rontayan 1 year ago
@xaocam : haha, that is such a wonderful thought.
selvmordspilot 1 year ago
@xaocam shaw fujikawa slip space drive : )
IGotN0 1 year ago
@xaocam but then you're alive. win.
1ProbablyHateYou 1 year ago
@xaocam Umm... its basically time travelling into the future... i'd go.. because i know im not going to live for 500 years!! Just think of the tech you'd have access to once you arrive!
SystemParanoia 1 year ago
@xaocam
Unlike SystemParanoia - Cough* wanker. I actually didn't take it seriously, and that's why it made me laugh!
Man this planet would be boring if people like systemparanoia were our only source of entertainment.
ElDuorPaso 1 year ago
@xaocam Well, this is why the equation "faster than light = time warp" is false. Being faster than light doesnt mean that time "slows down". Ship-time and the earth-time are disconnected (relative terms). After your journey You'll find yourself in another space-time. Counting years is meaningless. Furthermore it's not proven that nothing can reach the speed of light or couldn't be faster. Whats proven so far is that we have no way of detecting such speeds.
MillyVanillification 9 months ago
@xaocam
i dont get it... you would reach your destination 480 years b4 them O_o
Copimi 7 months ago
@Copimi Time dilation..
Dalroc 5 months ago
@xaocam I loled =)
68976897 5 months ago
@xaocam Relativity's a bitch, ain't it?
Halo4Lyf 5 months ago
If I could bring someone back to life anytime in the future, I would bring Carl Sagan back at a time where we are traveling to the stars, he must have loved the universe so much, it is my dream and probably was his to venture across the universe.
tremapar 2 years ago 4
RIP Carl Sagan
We miss you...
rwnministries 2 years ago
EXCELLENT.
CARL SAGAN is an inspiration.
mohfoz77 2 years ago 3
what is the name of the music at the end? it was used a few times during the series.
NuFilms 2 years ago
So you get half way to your destination with your Bussard Ramjet, then you turn the ship around and deccelerate the rest of the way? rofl, there's limits to how much you can dumb this down without it not making sense XD
Also, Orion is perfectly good for surface launches, provided you know how to reduce fallout (launching from a flat steel launchpad, using larger amounts of explosives in ur nukes => greater efficiency, ect.), which is where it's at it's most useful anyway.
TheDireAvenger 2 years ago
Honest question, but why doesn't this make any sense?
RojOdio 2 years ago
Well, u know how ur Ramjet compresses ur hydrogen (H ions) to make it fuse, right? fusion heats it up and u expand it through a rocket nozzle behind the scoop. The net effect is that u accelerate H ions that go through ur scoop. If you want to turn ur scoop the other way around and thrust backwards, u'd have to stop ur H ions in their tracks and push them out the front. That's not possible when ur @ ~10% c or faster, ur magnetic field would need to be unrealistically strong.
TheDireAvenger 2 years ago
Could the ramjet simply create hit the hydrogens with it's laser and make them H ions, then deflect them with a similarly charged magnetic field, thus ceasing its intake of ions at the halfway point, after having used up all the hydrogen for fuel?
RojOdio 2 years ago
Aha, yep XD
But still, there are problems with the Ramscoop in general - fusion is hard enough with "deutirium + tritium => Helium + neutron" (the only kind of fusion we can do currently), but you'd need to use "proton + proton => deutirium + electron" which is slower and releases much less energy. If you were sufficiently advanced, you might be able to force a "Proton-Proton Chain" (wiki) like in the sun, which is much better, but far more difficult to do through a non-planet-sized engine.
TheDireAvenger 2 years ago
There's also the practical concerns with building a scoop hundreds of kilometers wide :)
Still, materials seem much less of a concern than actual energy.
RojOdio 2 years ago
But the point is that u wouldn't need a backwards ramscoop to slow down. If u want to slow down and ur moving through a fluid, it's easy; the fluid does it for u. Air resistance, right? If u just make a big magnetic field that slows down (slightly) lots of H ions, u'd have a sort of "parachute" that slows u down. Looking back, I was far too harsh; u'd still need power for ur parachute, which u could get from fusion, but blue-shifted light on solar panels will do just as well for much less effort
TheDireAvenger 2 years ago
I was under the impression that the ramjet had to turn about because that would be the only way to decelerate fast enough to reach it's target safely? Retro-thrusters don't seem to be able to slow down the thing from such high speeds in time to be able to do that.
Actually, if the ramjet is backwards, how does it get H+/- into it's scoop to be able to move? Does it store them?
RojOdio 2 years ago
Nah, a Ramscoop would only just make more thrust than drag, which makes sense since it's much easier to slow down when the wind is moving against you than it is to speed up. Infact, even using some other method of propulsion (ie Orion), slowing down with a huge magnetic field is still a pretty reasonable idea.
And... that's the bit I don't get; to store them, or even fuse them, you'd need to slow them close to a stop, which is very difficult when you're moving a decent fraction of c.
TheDireAvenger 2 years ago
Maybe the whole contraption just uses loads of magnetic fields to fure the hydrogen close together inside it's belly? Perhaps it doesn't stop them completely but makes them stop with respect to the ship?
RojOdio 2 years ago
alas, the hydrogen is moving with respect to the ship at the same speed as the ship is moving with respect to interstellar space - ie very fast indeed. If it wasn't, you wouldn't get it hot enough for fusion. When it's running the right way, you only need to slow the hydrogen down alittle (compared to how fast it's going) to compress it and heat it up massively (100 keV per H+ is ~9 billion joules, which is the energy difference between 1 kilo moving at 30,000,000 m/s and 29,999,800 m/s XD)
TheDireAvenger 2 years ago
This video's title and description are deceptive as to what it's actually about. It gives the impression that Carl Sagan is in favour of Nuclear Energy as a possible alternative means of powering the earth whereas it's actually to do with using Nuclear fusion for the sake of powering a spacecraft to achieve speeds close to the speed of light. People who oppose Nuclear power oppose the fission aspect (can't blame 'em with the way the profit system works) and often favour fusion, but thats future.
2882890 2 years ago
this guy talks and sounds like hugo weaving from the matrix LOL!
tracidtrax 2 years ago
.10c would equal the total time to travel to Mars at just over 450 seconds, or 7.5 minutes. That's 7 minutes 30 seconds of flight time, versus the currently estimated 6 months of flight time it currently takes to travel to the red planet. I see no reason why we couldn't construct this ship orbiting the moon, use conventional rockets to get us to the moon in 3 days, and then launch from the moon to mars aboard the thermonuclear powered Orion space craft.
kurtsemler 2 years ago
not accurate, you must account for the acceleration required, it would be in order of magnitude of a week (several weeks perhaps) to get to Mars or any other destination within the solar system.
bookdoge12 2 years ago
DrBuzz0
You've claimed that nuclear energy is the fundamental energy force of the universe.
I disagree. Gravity is one clue to what I'm alluding to - the other is the necessity for an 'absolute' sub quantum medium. Absolute in terms of spatial placement and time.
Giving rise to relative time and relative spatial placement of every sub-atomic particle - all the way down to the neutrino.
OMGEnterprise 2 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
thats cause you suck your own dick
ConspiracyTheory81 2 years ago
Nuclear energy is a double edged sword like all other good things, Fossil fuels were good until we started to run out, Nuclear energy is something that could be great if we use it for the right reasons, but unfortunately most human beings cant be trusted, its sad...
SurpentineSacrifice 2 years ago
SurpentineSacrifice
Re your comment: "Nuclear energy is something that could be great if we use it for the right reasons, but unfortunately most human beings cant be trusted, its sad..."
Good point you make there. Putting nuclear energy aside - if there was a clean, powerful and portable (for use in aircraft for instance) solution that replaced fossil fuel for good, how responsible would mankind be with it's use?
I believe that question is even more important than the energy solution itself.
OMGEnterprise 2 years ago
As 30,000 years, good god, thats completely insane. Its scary to think about that, but i think it would b e worth it to see a new world.
SurpentineSacrifice 2 years ago
id like to see another world, even if it means getting frozen, and missing 45 years of my life, i want to see what other worlds are like
SurpentineSacrifice 2 years ago
Man's hope for long term survival is in space..He must colonize other worlds and grow like a weed..ever expanding so when one world no longer is hospitable..he has hundreds of others..just like the creation of the world wide web..was to survive a nuclear war, one server/computer goes down..hundreds of other in the web,can survive and go on..same idea man needs for it's long terms survival in the galaxy and beyond..
scotters201 2 years ago 4
I love that artwork.
Kaarel314 2 years ago 4
semiliterategod is a troll. do not feed the troll.
FightinBlueHen 3 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
fucking pussy, eat shit and die
semiliteratedgod 2 years ago
semiliteratedgod obviously doesn't understand shit about physics.
Obelisk155 3 years ago
This has been flagged as spam show
fucking pussy, eat shit and die
semiliteratedgod 2 years ago
why not Nostradamus?
semiliteratedgod 3 years ago
guys just look up nikola teslas technology, he sent industrial energy faster than light through the earth allowing a world energy and internet with the aspect of instantaneous transmission! this same technology could be used on board a ship to go faster than light and you wont have to watch the world dissappear either! go across the universe and back in an instant and still see everyone in your time. i put up videos on how the wireless eneergy transfer works, next would be spacecraft!!
boxa888 3 years ago
I don't get this bullcrap about 21 years vs thousands of years, if they come back with the same speed it would still take only 2*21+something earth years, IMO
semiliteratedgod 3 years ago
"Your opinion"? Well guess what? Laws of nature do not care what your opinion is. Laws of nature give LESS than a crap about your "opinion". lol.
scdlbrdr 3 years ago
This comment has received too many negative votes show
my EDUCATED opinion, fucking dumb shit
in science there's no such thing as "law of nature"...
semiliteratedgod 3 years ago
It's called The Twin Paradox. Your ship has to accelerate and decelerate.
It takes thousand of years to the observers on Earth, if the distance travelled is thousand of lightyears, no matter how fast the ship is going. The crew of the ship may experience only few years, if the ship is fast enough...
henrihe 3 years ago
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you do realize that it's bullshit, right?
if they come back ALIVE then the observers will be alive too...
semiliteratedgod 3 years ago
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I don't get it. Why should the original observers be still alive, if thousands of years has passed?
henrihe 3 years ago
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If "thousands of years has passed" then the travelers too are fucking dead.
There's no "magic" in high speed, humans die like anywhere else
semiliteratedgod 3 years ago
Please, learn some special relativity, before making statements like that. It's a measured fact that time dilation happens. You only need two atomic clocks and one aeroplane. One atomic clock is left on Earth and other is put into the aeroplane. After the flight, the clocks show different time!
henrihe 3 years ago
lol, this bullshit has been refuted, I don't know in which century you live..
semiliteratedgod 3 years ago
Show me the proofs. Give me some scentific references where they refute the special relativity. No hand waving, pure proofs, thank you.
henrihe 3 years ago
google is your friend
semiliteratedgod 3 years ago
yes
thingsdonotgoboom 2 years ago
carl sagan reminds me of sam neil's character in event horizon
freakstupid11 3 years ago
hey look up carl sagan the matrix , its hilarious , they have sagans voice over the computer guys image and its hilarious, it works perfectly!!
boxa888 3 years ago
time dilation/ twin paradox really screws with my head. Makes me depressed as well.
Rectos32 3 years ago 2
the twin paradox is not really a paradox. It was a paradox when it was first conceived, but now it is entirely reconcilable.
quidproquo2004 3 years ago
These ideas are just that... ideas. It's been decades since they came up with them, if they were even close to feasible, we would be traveling through the stars already
Subtilior74 3 years ago
There are such things as funding and politics. Project Orion was and is very possible, but the drive just wasn't there.
Rectos32 3 years ago
A ship completely built while in orbit? In YOUR lifetime?
BeondaPale 3 years ago
wow 5:47 to 5:55 is fucking scary! :O
zenSk28 3 years ago
it's bullshit...
semiliteratedgod 3 years ago
Bob1qaz, I agree with the first part of your comment.. and this WoIYou is losing his mind but yeah. I don't really like America.. Mostly its shitty goverment and it's own proud.. it's kinda self destructive and it will take any country down with itself.. American these days believe everything they see on tv's. No offence I know it has become a stereotype, but a true one.. 50% believes in UFO's that have been on the earth. For example.. No offence the ppl lack education and self thinking.
aapopaa 3 years ago
cool but when was this video made, I mean, when's the last time you saw a presentation with paper blueprints?
majordbag2 3 years ago
It was made sometime in the late 70's,computers would have been too expensive then for them to use graphic demonstrations outside the lab.
HoloMatter 3 years ago 2
I believe it was around 1981, when this show was released.
lithiumdeuteride 3 years ago
Wow, interesting. I never really considered interstellar travel plausible, though I had always hoped it to be possible, for the sake of the human race. I am not sure whether these ideas could actually be put into action, but now I am forced to reconsider the possibilities.
Danexfa 3 years ago
I kinda wish we could go on that 56 years around the universe trip now.
Since the ship'd be the size of a small world we could probably fit a crew of millions on it.
Not only do I get a tour of the universe, but I'd get to go to the future aswell.
Obelisk155 3 years ago
I love this series!
drmygel 3 years ago
I love that man!
joerules22 3 years ago 2
This comment has received too many negative votes show
This is the point of view of a man from the 1970s. You shouldn't take him for serious today. Nuclear space-ships. Lol. Typical US-american. Explosions! Nuclear fusion? Doesn't work. What works is ionic drives. And thats whats on the market now. The only feasible space-motor so far. Sagan not even mentioned it. Thats why the truth is a child of time :)
WolYou 3 years ago