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A comment on Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 light years from Earth. Parent comment

Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by dexwiz on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @01:35PM (#13707878)
No, but we probably could with enough fuel. The bigger issue is space dust. Hitting it at relativistic speeds would be like flying into a cosmic shotgun for the entire journey.
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Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by CoolGuySteve on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @02:17PM (#13708320)
According to this paper, you can travel around 0.5 c before the radiation caused by colliding with interstellar hydrogen kills you: http://www.scirp.org/journal/PaperInformation.aspx?paperID=2...

"Going slow to avoid severe H irradiation sets an upper speed limit of v ~ 0.5 c. This velocity only gives a time dilation factor of about 15%, which would not substantially assist galaxy-scale voyages. Diffuse interstellar H atoms are the ultimate cosmic space mines and represent a formidable obstacle to interstellar travel."

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Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by gech on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @03:59PM (#13709094)
Couldn't you put some kind of "snowplow" on the front so it pushes the oncoming detritus away to the sides?
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Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by temuze on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @04:38PM (#13709400)
A reddit thread mentions that idea: https://www.reddit.com/r/science/comments/12nls5/speed_kills...
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Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by aaronblohowiak on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @01:54PM (#13708101)
Could that cause accidental fusion?
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Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by delecti on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @02:06PM (#13708224)
Assuming this [1] is reasonably accurate, very much yes. It proposes fusion occurring at speeds as "slow" as 0.9c.

[1] https://what-if.xkcd.com/1/

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Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by snerbles on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @02:11PM (#13708270)
A large mass of water ice would make a decent ablative shield.
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