Astrophysicists Announce Major Discovery Of Big Bang's Smoking Gun (2 Viewers)

[Cliff Clavin]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

We were never going to reach stars with conventional methods anyway. If we ever get warp drive/wormholes/FTL, then the distance becomes largely irrelevant.

 

[The Goat]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

To be fair, I don't think that you and I will be around when this occurs.

 

[joffer]

the really wild number to me is that everything we see and can measure (baryonic matter, radiation, etc.) makes up only about 5% of all the matter and energy in the universe. current estimates are that dark matter makes up about 25%, and dark energy makes up the rest, about 70%.

 

[NCCommish]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

To be fair, I don't think that you and I will be around when this occurs.

Speak for yourself. I am planning to live forever.

 

[joffer]

I'm not a physics person, but I keep reading that this discovery implies a multiverse. Cool if true.

yeah, I've read that too. I'm not sure how that follows, but i'll keep reading.

I think the main thing it confirms is inflation, which really didn't have any direct evidence until now, but was necessary to explain the uniformity of the CMBR.

 

[The Goat]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

To be fair, I don't think that you and I will be around when this occurs.

Speak for yourself. I am planning to live forever.

Well, make sure to say goodbye to Andromeda for me.

 

[NCCommish]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

To be fair, I don't think that you and I will be around when this occurs.

Speak for yourself. I am planning to live forever.

Well, make sure to say goodbye to Andromeda for me.

I will.

 

[Rove!]

Why does the universe have a mass of 1.468 gazillion tons, and not, say, 3.14?

- mmm Pi(e)

 

[munga30]

Avert your eyes!

Ugh, f'ing multiversers, all high-fiving each other (awkwardly) and "string theory" this and "unnatural" that.

 

[Buck Bradcanon]

I'd like to have a Big Bang with The Goat's avatar.

 

[matttyl]

Not really having to do this any of this, but in that new "Cosmos" show, the thing that blew me away the most:

If we take all known time from the Big Bang until today, and condense it all into one standard calendar year (with the Big Bang happening on Jan 1, and today being as the ball drops on New Year's Eve) - everything we really know as "recorded history" would have only happened in the last 14 or so seconds.

 

[Clifford]

It's just mind boggling that all of the matter and energy that ever existed was there at the big bang. Which means that every degree of heat ever pumped out by the sun was there, but also every degree of heat from every star in our galaxy and every galaxy in the universe. It was all in one tiny spot. And every ounce of rock from here to the farthest reaches of the universe existed - it might not have been in rock form, but the mass was there. All in one tiny point.

The mind boggling part of it to me isn't just that you could have all of that energy and matter in one tiny space - or even the massive inflation that occurred in the fractions of a second in which the universe blinked into existence. That's hard enough to wrap your mind around.

But what really gets my head twisted is that the universe has a specific amount of mass and energy that isn't infinite, and doesn't change. Why does the universe have a mass of 1.468 gazillion tons, and not, say, 3.14? Or 1? The concept of "laws" in the universe has never made sense to me - a formula like e=mc^2 just seems absurd to me in the sense that there's no real reason for c to be 186,000 miles per second except that that's what it is. If there are arbitrary things in the universe, then how did they get arbited?

And are they universally consistent? If there are other universes, do they all have the same amount of information, or are there big universes and little universes? Is the speed of light the same from universe to universe? And while I understand that information is always preserved, if there is a big crunch, will the "next" iteration of the universe have the same amount of information?

Also blowing my mind is that the idea of "before space time" doesn't exist, but that there is a "beginning" to space time. That we can accurately say what happened in the first second of the universe, because that was literally the first second that ever existed, and nothing predated it.

The closest I can come to making sense to all this is to look at the universe as a balloon. It's easy to imagine the inflation of the universe like the inflation of a balloon, and it's pretty common to use that analogy to describe how things are expanding away from each other. It follows logically that the big bang is like the first bit of breath into the balloon, which took it from an infinitesimal speck to what it is today. But that's not right, because that scenario imagines a balloon growing into space that was already there, and occupying more and more space as time goes on. Which implies that there's something outside of that space for it to grow into. And that's not right.

Instead, it helps me to think of the universe as an already inflated balloon which is constant in size and shape. It doesn't change at all. If you take a cross section of that balloon at its widest point, you'll get a circle that's a certain size. Take a cross section at a different point, and you get a different, smaller size. At either end of the balloon, you have a balloon knot and a nipple thingy. A cross section at the very end of the balloon knot would be almost infinitely small. As you move closer to the center, it gets bigger and bigger, very rapidly at first and then more slowly until you get to its maximum size, and then the exact opposite.

Instead of thinking of those cross sections as happening from left to right, or from top to bottom, or however you're imagining that balloon, think of them as happening from beginning to end. Because time is just one dimension. From any point on the balloon, you could make inferences about the size and curvature and dimensions of the balloon, but sitting on the outside of the balloon, you could only truly see the stuff right around you, and it would all be curving away.

But if the universe has a finite beginning and a finite end - even if it's too large for us to see or even comprehend, so we can only see things one cross section at a time - then why does it have that beginning and end? Why is the universe set to last 28 billion years (or however long it is) instead of 42 billion or 1 trillion or some other arbitrary amount of time? Every finite aspect of the universe is arbitrary. How did it become what it is and not something else? I just can't get my arms around it.

Very interesting post. I am having trouble wrapping my head around the idea of inflation as well, I guess to me the question is, why would the universe be infinitely dense and small at the moments leading up to the inflation?

Also how does this relate to the doppler effect observed in stars showing us that stars are moving away from our vantage point but also from each other, indicating the universe is still in a state of expansion? Does this refute that finding, or is inflation compatible with the expansion of the universe?

I need to hear all this explained very slowly, with lots of repetition.

 

[joffer]

Also how does this relate to the doppler effect observed in stars showing us that stars are moving away from our vantage point but also from each other, indicating the universe is still in a state of expansion? Does this refute that finding, or is inflation compatible with the expansion of the universe?

I need to hear all this explained very slowly, with lots of repetition.

no, why would it refute redshift? Inflation just says that the earliest expansion of the universe was very, very rapid. orders of magnitude faster than the expansion we see today with redshift.

 

[Clifford]

Like I said, slowly and with lots of repetition.

 

[joffer]

http://www.iflscience.com/physics/andrei-linde-receives-news-about-gravitational-wave-breakthrough

this is kind of cool.

 

[B-Deep]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

 

[NCCommish]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

We will hopefully be far beyond this little rock by then.

 

[shader]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

We will hopefully be far beyond this little rock by then.

Yeah this planet sucks. I sure hope we can find a better one.

 

[joffer]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

not explode, its not big enough to be a supernova. it will expand and consume all the rocky planets, before shrinking and becoming a white dwarf

 

[NCCommish]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

We will hopefully be far beyond this little rock by then.

Yeah this planet sucks. I sure hope we can find a better one.

If we don't we will die here as a species when some rock we didn't even see coming finishes us off. If the planet itself doesn't do so first.

 

[IvanKaramazov]

not explode, its not big enough to be a supernova. it will expand and consume all the rocky planets, before shrinking and becoming a white dwarf

Let's not bring race into this.

 

[B-Deep]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

We will hopefully be far beyond this little rock by then.

I kind of doubt it, it is more likley we find a way to kill ourselves off first

until someone finds a way to make massive profits from space travel we'll continue to just dabble. A commitment to explore the universe takes more long term thinking than soceity seems to be capable of at this point. We want short term, we want profit, and the cost of knowledge is just too high.

 

[joffer]

not explode, its not big enough to be a supernova. it will expand and consume all the rocky planets, before shrinking and becoming a white dwarf

Let's not bring race into this.

European-American dwarf?

 

[Maurile Tremblay]

At the origin of the Big Bang it wouldn't have been all the mass in the universe, just all the energy...right?

If we're going to get technical about it, then all of the "information".

All the mass-energy. Information in a prior state of the universe can't include all information in a later state if QM is indeterministic.

 

[B-Deep]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

not explode, its not big enough to be a supernova. it will expand and consume all the rocky planets, before shrinking and becoming a white dwarf

yeah

when it turns red giant and consumes us that's close enough to an explosion for the poor bastards living here

 

[matttyl]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

We will hopefully be far beyond this little rock by then.

Yeah this planet sucks. I sure hope we can find a better one.

If we don't we will die here as a species when some rock we didn't even see coming finishes us off. If the planet itself doesn't do so first.

I think we as a species do it to the planet before the planet does it to us.

The post I made above (#211) about "recorded history" being only the last 14 seconds if we condense everything from the big bang until now into one calender year really got me thinking.....

From the time to took man to learn to fly (1903) until man walked on the moon (1969) was only 66 years. That's absolutely nothing, in the large scheme of things. Had that/if that rate of ability continued, after another 66 years (2035, or only 21 years from now) it wouldn't be out of the question to think we'd have a man walking on another planet.

 

[NCCommish]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

We will hopefully be far beyond this little rock by then.

Yeah this planet sucks. I sure hope we can find a better one.

If we don't we will die here as a species when some rock we didn't even see coming finishes us off. If the planet itself doesn't do so first.

I think we as a species do it to the planet before the planet does it to us.

The post I made above (#211) about "recorded history" being only the last 14 seconds if we condense everything from the big bang until now into one calender year really got me thinking.....

From the time to took man to learn to fly (1903) until man walked on the moon (1969) was only 66 years. That's absolutely nothing, in the large scheme of things. Had that/if that rate of ability continued, after another 66 years (2035, or only 21 years from now) it wouldn't be out of the question to think we'd have a man walking on another planet.

Pretty sure we will have people on Mars by then. The only reason we haven't done more by now is some people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

 

[Maik Jeaunz]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

not explode, its not big enough to be a supernova. it will expand and consume all the rocky planets, before shrinking and becoming a white dwarf

looks like Justin Bieber has begun killing the planet ahead of schedule.

 

[shader]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

We will hopefully be far beyond this little rock by then.

Yeah this planet sucks. I sure hope we can find a better one.

If we don't we will die here as a species when some rock we didn't even see coming finishes us off. If the planet itself doesn't do so first.

I think we as a species do it to the planet before the planet does it to us. The post I made above (#211) about "recorded history" being only the last 14 seconds if we condense everything from the big bang until now into one calender year really got me thinking.....

From the time to took man to learn to fly (1903) until man walked on the moon (1969) was only 66 years. That's absolutely nothing, in the large scheme of things. Had that/if that rate of ability continued, after another 66 years (2035, or only 21 years from now) it wouldn't be out of the question to think we'd have a man walking on another planet.

Pretty sure we will have people on Mars by then. The only reason we haven't done more by now is some people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

It's hard to make businesses and/or governments spend tons of money on non productive things. The business world doesn't care about moving people to Mars, as there is no reason to do so, and it isn't financially feasible.

 

[matttyl]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

We will hopefully be far beyond this little rock by then.

Yeah this planet sucks. I sure hope we can find a better one.

If we don't we will die here as a species when some rock we didn't even see coming finishes us off. If the planet itself doesn't do so first.

I think we as a species do it to the planet before the planet does it to us.

The post I made above (#211) about "recorded history" being only the last 14 seconds if we condense everything from the big bang until now into one calender year really got me thinking.....

From the time to took man to learn to fly (1903) until man walked on the moon (1969) was only 66 years. That's absolutely nothing, in the large scheme of things. Had that/if that rate of ability continued, after another 66 years (2035, or only 21 years from now) it wouldn't be out of the question to think we'd have a man walking on another planet.

Pretty sure we will have people on Mars by then. The only reason we haven't done more by now is some people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

 

[munga30]

not explode, its not big enough to be a supernova. it will expand and consume all the rocky planets, before shrinking and becoming a white dwarf

Let's not bring race into this.

Oops, too late.

 

[Jayrok]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

not explode, its not big enough to be a supernova. it will expand and consume all the rocky planets, before shrinking and becoming a white dwarf

yeah

when it turns red giant and consumes us that's close enough to an explosion for the poor bastards living here

But man what a way to go.

 

[The Commish]

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

I thought I read somewhere that they were interviewing folks for a "one way trip" to Mars in the not to distant future

 

[NCCommish]

Simply put the Big Freeze Theory says in an infinitely expanding universe the stars will eventually all run out of fuel. The universe will achieve a uniform temp too cold to support life after they go out. Keep in mind we are talking about trillions of years from now.

I think that's perhaps the saddest thought there is...that if there is other intelligent life out there then it's getting further away all the time. How lonely.

Eventually the only stars we will be able to see are the ones in the Milky Way. All the rest will disappear beyond the horizon and we will truly seem to be alone in the universe.

won't our own star explode and kill us before this happens?

We will hopefully be far beyond this little rock by then.

Yeah this planet sucks. I sure hope we can find a better one.

If we don't we will die here as a species when some rock we didn't even see coming finishes us off. If the planet itself doesn't do so first.

I think we as a species do it to the planet before the planet does it to us. The post I made above (#211) about "recorded history" being only the last 14 seconds if we condense everything from the big bang until now into one calender year really got me thinking.....

From the time to took man to learn to fly (1903) until man walked on the moon (1969) was only 66 years. That's absolutely nothing, in the large scheme of things. Had that/if that rate of ability continued, after another 66 years (2035, or only 21 years from now) it wouldn't be out of the question to think we'd have a man walking on another planet.

Pretty sure we will have people on Mars by then. The only reason we haven't done more by now is some people know the cost of everything and the value of nothing.

It's hard to make businesses and/or governments spend tons of money on non productive things. The business world doesn't care about moving people to Mars, as there is no reason to do so, and it isn't financially feasible.

NASA has demonstrable ROI.

 

[matttyl]

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

I thought I read somewhere that they were interviewing folks for a "one way trip" to Mars in the not to distant future

They've been talking about that for years - specifically Buzz Aldrin I think. They call it "One way to Mars"....as in this is "one way to get to Mars", as well as being simply a "One way trip to Mars". The idea is that they would set up a "colony", and not have to worry about the expense and issues that would come up from having any return flight.

We're still decades away from that, though. Not sure why anyone would want to be that "one", though.

 

[Yankee23Fan]

God you anti/pro religious people suck in these threads. Really. Suck. Stop.

Dude. Your signature is a Bible verse.

And a rather important one at that, but so what?

It just struck me as amusing. Kinda like someone in a "Yankees Suck" T-shirt trying to bring peace and calm into a Red Sox/Yankees spat.

Not a great analogy, but I think you know where I was going.

I am a person of faith. And I love science. And this is fricken cool. And does not need to be clogged up by the usual suspects. Accept this for what it is - really cool sciencey stuff that is beyond most of our pay grades.

 

[jon_mx]

I am not sure a manned mission to mars buys that much over a probe. And if we are going to probe, why not Uranus?

 

[NCCommish]

I am not sure a manned mission to mars buys that much over a probe. And if we are going to probe, why not Uranus?

Of course it does. Having humans there ups the chance of discoveries exponentially. It's what we evolved to do as a species really.

 

[bostonfred]

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

I thought I read somewhere that they were interviewing folks for a "one way trip" to Mars in the not to distant future

They've been talking about that for years - specifically Buzz Aldrin I think. They call it "One way to Mars"....as in this is "one way to get to Mars", as well as being simply a "One way trip to Mars". The idea is that they would set up a "colony", and not have to worry about the expense and issues that would come up from having any return flight.We're still decades away from that, though. Not sure why anyone would want to be that "one", though.

We are all on a one way trip to our inevitable deaths. Not all of us can be the first to ever do something, and very few in history will ever be the very first to do something as incredible as being the first to land on another planet. Even if it's a one way trip, that's a life that a lot of people would love to have lived.

 

[NCCommish]

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

I thought I read somewhere that they were interviewing folks for a "one way trip" to Mars in the not to distant future

They've been talking about that for years - specifically Buzz Aldrin I think. They call it "One way to Mars"....as in this is "one way to get to Mars", as well as being simply a "One way trip to Mars". The idea is that they would set up a "colony", and not have to worry about the expense and issues that would come up from having any return flight.We're still decades away from that, though. Not sure why anyone would want to be that "one", though.

We are all on a one way trip to our inevitable deaths. Not all of us can be the first to ever do something, and very few in history will ever be the very first to do something as incredible as being the first to land on another planet. Even if it's a one way trip, that's a life that a lot of people would love to have lived.

I'd go. I mean in all honesty I probably have 20 years or so left here. Why not spend that time making history? Sure better than spending it selling people computers and crap.

 

[matttyl]

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

I thought I read somewhere that they were interviewing folks for a "one way trip" to Mars in the not to distant future

They've been talking about that for years - specifically Buzz Aldrin I think. They call it "One way to Mars"....as in this is "one way to get to Mars", as well as being simply a "One way trip to Mars". The idea is that they would set up a "colony", and not have to worry about the expense and issues that would come up from having any return flight.We're still decades away from that, though. Not sure why anyone would want to be that "one", though.

We are all on a one way trip to our inevitable deaths. Not all of us can be the first to ever do something, and very few in history will ever be the very first to do something as incredible as being the first to land on another planet. Even if it's a one way trip, that's a life that a lot of people would love to have lived.

I'd go. I mean in all honesty I probably have 20 years or so left here. Why not spend that time making history? Sure better than spending it selling people computers and crap.

If it were as easy as taking a quick hop flight, that would be one thing - this won't be. You'd be sitting in a small cramped "spaceship" for well over a year to get there - possibly 2 or 3 years. You'd go mad.

 

[NCCommish]

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

I thought I read somewhere that they were interviewing folks for a "one way trip" to Mars in the not to distant future

They've been talking about that for years - specifically Buzz Aldrin I think. They call it "One way to Mars"....as in this is "one way to get to Mars", as well as being simply a "One way trip to Mars". The idea is that they would set up a "colony", and not have to worry about the expense and issues that would come up from having any return flight.We're still decades away from that, though. Not sure why anyone would want to be that "one", though.

We are all on a one way trip to our inevitable deaths. Not all of us can be the first to ever do something, and very few in history will ever be the very first to do something as incredible as being the first to land on another planet. Even if it's a one way trip, that's a life that a lot of people would love to have lived.

I'd go. I mean in all honesty I probably have 20 years or so left here. Why not spend that time making history? Sure better than spending it selling people computers and crap.

If it were as easy as taking a quick hop flight, that would be one thing - this won't be. You'd be sitting in a small cramped "spaceship" for well over a year to get there - possibly 2 or 3 years. You'd go mad.

Probably about 2 years. And no I don't think I would actually. I am pretty good at being alone. I am also pretty good at living in my head.

 

[joffer]

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

I thought I read somewhere that they were interviewing folks for a "one way trip" to Mars in the not to distant future

They've been talking about that for years - specifically Buzz Aldrin I think. They call it "One way to Mars"....as in this is "one way to get to Mars", as well as being simply a "One way trip to Mars". The idea is that they would set up a "colony", and not have to worry about the expense and issues that would come up from having any return flight.We're still decades away from that, though. Not sure why anyone would want to be that "one", though.

We are all on a one way trip to our inevitable deaths. Not all of us can be the first to ever do something, and very few in history will ever be the very first to do something as incredible as being the first to land on another planet. Even if it's a one way trip, that's a life that a lot of people would love to have lived.

I'd go. I mean in all honesty I probably have 20 years or so left here. Why not spend that time making history? Sure better than spending it selling people computers and crap.

If it were as easy as taking a quick hop flight, that would be one thing - this won't be. You'd be sitting in a small cramped "spaceship" for well over a year to get there - possibly 2 or 3 years. You'd go mad.

depending on a lot of variables, you can get there in as little as 6 months. most likely less than a year.

 

[The Commish]

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

I thought I read somewhere that they were interviewing folks for a "one way trip" to Mars in the not to distant future

They've been talking about that for years - specifically Buzz Aldrin I think. They call it "One way to Mars"....as in this is "one way to get to Mars", as well as being simply a "One way trip to Mars". The idea is that they would set up a "colony", and not have to worry about the expense and issues that would come up from having any return flight.

We're still decades away from that, though. Not sure why anyone would want to be that "one", though.

Seems closer than you think 2023??

 

[matttyl]

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

I thought I read somewhere that they were interviewing folks for a "one way trip" to Mars in the not to distant future

They've been talking about that for years - specifically Buzz Aldrin I think. They call it "One way to Mars"....as in this is "one way to get to Mars", as well as being simply a "One way trip to Mars". The idea is that they would set up a "colony", and not have to worry about the expense and issues that would come up from having any return flight.

We're still decades away from that, though. Not sure why anyone would want to be that "one", though.

Seems closer than you think 2023??

Where are you getting 2023 from? I just don't see a human walking on Mars in the next 21 years. While I'd love to be wrong, I don't think we're nearly that close.

The moon is a little less than a quarter of a million miles away.

Mars averages about 140 million miles away from us. That's just a little bit further.

 

[timschochet]

NC is right. Let's do this.

 

[matttyl]

NC is right. Let's do this.

Are you volunteering?

 

[timschochet]

NC is right. Let's do this.

Are you volunteering?

I am volunteering to have my tax money, along with everyone else's pay for a large expansion of NASA in order to send people to Mars. As far as volunteers to actually go, there will be plenty.

 

[The Commish]

0% chance we have people on Mars in the next 21 years.

I thought I read somewhere that they were interviewing folks for a "one way trip" to Mars in the not to distant future

They've been talking about that for years - specifically Buzz Aldrin I think. They call it "One way to Mars"....as in this is "one way to get to Mars", as well as being simply a "One way trip to Mars". The idea is that they would set up a "colony", and not have to worry about the expense and issues that would come up from having any return flight.

We're still decades away from that, though. Not sure why anyone would want to be that "one", though.

Seems closer than you think 2023??

Where are you getting 2023 from? I just don't see a human walking on Mars in the next 21 years. While I'd love to be wrong, I don't think we're nearly that close.

The moon is a little less than a quarter of a million miles away.

Mars averages about 140 million miles away from us. That's just a little bit further.

Look at the "roadmap" link

 

[NCCommish]

NC is right. Let's do this.

Are you volunteering?

I am.