7 Earth-Size Planets Found by NASA

[Penner]

So, NASA just announced that they found 7 Earth-size planets roughly 40 light-years away. This is cool news everyone...

The first step in finding life outside our own planet is to find a planet like our own: small, rocky, and at just the right distance from the star that liquid water could exist on its surface.

That’s why an announcement today from NASA is so exciting: The space agency, along with partners around the world, has found seven potentially Earth-like planets orbiting a star 40 light-years away.

“It’s the first time that so many planets of this kind are found around a same star,” Michaël Gillon, the lead author of the Nature paper announcing the discovery, said in a press conference. “The seven planets … could have some liquid water and maybe life on the surface.”

Three of the planets are directly in the star’s habitable zone, meaning water can mostly likely exist on the surface of them. One of them, Gillon said, has a mass “strongly to suggest a water-rich composition.” And it’s possible that the other four could have liquid water, too, depending on the composition of their atmospheres, the astronomers said.

http://www.vox.com/2017/2/22/14698030/n ... trappist-1

[Speaker to Animals]

Sometimes I really wonder if, when we do start visiting these places, we will find only remains of civilizations totally exterminated by some external agency.

[Smitty-48]

At current maximum velocity, 0.067% of the speed of light, it would take 1244 years to get there.

Accelerate to decellerate from; 10% of the speed of light, would still take 718 years to get there.

Accelerate to decellerate from; 20% of the speed of light, would still take 393 years to get there.

Not get anywhere near there, anytime soon.

[Speaker to Animals]

At current maximum velocity, it would take 1244 years to get there.

Accelerate to decellerate from; 10% of the speed of light, would still take 718 years to get there.

Accelerate to decellerate from; 20% of the speed of light, would still take 393 years to get there.

Not get anywhere near there, anytime soon.

Jesus Christ how many times does this have to be explained to you?

Going anywhere outside of the solar system at a constant velocity is fucking retarded. That means you literally don't have a propulsion system other than what boosted you out of Sol system in the first place. Derp.

You need constant acceleration, which means you are cruising the whole time, your propulsion system constantly working. If you are going to constant velocity, then you aren't running. You are basically cold and coasting along like a fucking moron.

When you add constant accleration, you get relativistic effects, which means a 40 light year journey could be done in a lifetime.

[Speaker to Animals]

For the hundredth time..

If you wanted to go a distance like 40 light years, and you did so at a constant 1 g acceleration, you would reach your destination in 7.3 years ship time. On Earth it would appear to have taken you 41.89 years.

You can play with the math yourself at an online calculator for Einstein's relativistic effects equation like this one:

http://convertalot.com/relativistic_sta ... lator.html


To get 1 g acceleration all the way there, you could go with something like the Orion or Deadalus drives that were developed back in the 1960s. We had this technology for over fifty years, but we were shut down by the Test Ban Treaty.

Furthermore, it seems to be the case that the EM drive works, so a ship that consists of a habitat affixed to a giant wave guide powered by some nuclear power plants would get you there as well.

[Smitty-48]

As there is no power source which could provide the required 1855030688912.7856 megajoules per kilogram of energy to achieve 1g constant accelleration, for all intents and purposes, there is no such thing as constant accelleration, to wit; you might as well be invoking magic.

"Constant acceleration!" = handwaving.

[Speaker to Animals]

As there is no power source which could provide the required 1855030688912.7856 megajoules per kilogram of energy to achieve 1g constant accelleration, for all intents and purposes, there is no such thing as constant accelleration, to wit; you might as well be invoking magic.

You don't know what you are talking about. Right off the bat we could go with 1960s technology with the Orion drive. The EM drive seems to be a more efficient and economical means, however. It just needs to be further tested and developed into something big.

That quote is not even fucking right. Where did you get that number? That's fucking dumb. You can't talk about how much energy it takes to achieve that acceleration without knowing the mass of the ship. Go read some books or something. And it's not kilogram of energy. You need to know the mass. MASS.

[Speaker to Animals]

Also, with an Orion drive, if you are talking about a manned ship, one of your biggest engineering problems is to slow down the acceleration. You have to build in a dampening system because it will want to accelerate a huge multiple of 1 g, which would kill everybody on board.

[Smitty-48]

As there is no power source which could provide the required 1855030688912.7856 megajoules per kilogram of energy to achieve 1g constant accelleration, for all intents and purposes, there is no such thing as constant accelleration, to wit; you might as well be invoking magic.

You don't know what you are talking about. Right off the bat we could go with 1960s technology with the Orion drive. The EM drive seems to be a more efficient and economical means, however. It just needs to be further tested and developed into something big.

It's not going to get you anywhere near relativisitic velocity, the Orion drive design which you invoke, which doesn't actually exist, had a 1g acceleration burn of only 10 days, to a maximum velocity of only 3.3% of the speed of light.

Significant relativisitc effects do not even come into play, until you exceed 90% of the speed of light. To reach 90% of the speed of light, would require a constant acelleration of 68 years, you have no energy source for this, not even a theoretical one.

[Speaker to Animals]

WHAT?

Acceleration of any kind literally is relativistic.

You need to go take a physics course in a university, man. You don't know what you are talking about here.

You could theoretically get to this star system in about 7-8 years with a ship built on 1960s technology. 40 plus years would pass on Earth, but not for you onboard that ship. I can't help that you don't understand the math.

Your biggest problem with an Orion drive is dampening the acceleration. You want to slow it way down. Getting to 1 g is not a problem at all.