Interstellar Travel - The Difficulties of Interstellar Travel

The Difficulties of Interstellar Travel

The main challenge facing interstellar travel is the vast distances that have to be covered. This means that a very great speed and/or a very long travel time is needed. The time it takes with most realistic propulsion methods would be from decades to millennia. Hence an interstellar ship would be much more severely exposed to the hazards found in interplanetary travel, including vacuum, radiation, weightlessness, and micrometeoroids. The long travel times make it difficult to design manned missions. The fundamental limits of space-time present another challenge. Furthermore, it is difficult to foresee interstellar trips being justified for conventional economic reasons.

Read more about this topic:  Interstellar Travel

Famous quotes containing the words difficulties and/or travel:

    Our achievements speak for themselves. What we have to keep track of are our failures, discouragements, and doubts. We tend to forget the past difficulties, the many false starts, and the painful groping. We see our past achievements as the end result of a clean forward thrust, and our present difficulties as signs of decline and decay.
    Eric Hoffer (1902–1983)

    Roads are made for horses and men of business. I do not travel in them much.
    Henry David Thoreau (1817–1862)