News for hackers. Stuff that matters.

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 Balgair on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @03:17PM (#13708793)
The engineering issues are really tough, though surmountable. Currently, we just can't engineer the parts that will last that long in hard vacuum. Mostly because we can't test in that environment easily. Also, what do you do when all the light bulbs have burned out or gone haywire, what does that fault-tree look like for the billion and one parts on the craft? For a short journey of ~7 years, it's not a very big deal, it's just engineering issues. When you get into generation ship discussions then it becomes a human rights nightmare to trap newborns in a ship for their entire life and the lives of their descendants.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by mjevans on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @05:17PM (#13709753)
With a round trip parts delivery time OF a generation, and a communications delay of almost a decade (two for duplex), I don't see any reason not to classify such a mission as a short-range 'generation ship' / complete colony effort.

Getting our 'eggs' out of a single cosmic basket is really important, however I think we need to at least take the baby-crawl to establishing an outpost in the asteroid belt. That would be far closer, have far more reasonable communications/parts delays, and if we can actually send up some robots to build things ahead of us, might actually be a good manufacturing base.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by Sembiance on Thursday February 23, 2017 @07:29AM (#13713355)
I feel that advancements in quantum mechanics will solve the communication problem.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by wyager on Thursday February 23, 2017 @12:20PM (#13715655)
No, it almost certainly won't. Our current understanding of quantum information theory simply doesn't allow transmitting classical information faster than light. There's no room in what we don't understand that could plausibly contain FTL communication. This is a pretty fundamental result of quantum information theory. https://en.m.wikipedia.org/wiki/No-communication_theorem
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by pavel_lishin on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @07:22PM (#13710552)
> it becomes a human rights nightmare to trap newborns in a ship for their entire life and the lives of their descendants.

Which is exactly why we should get some people off this ship, and colonizing others!

Oh, you meant the generation ship, not the Earth; nevermind.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by blueprint on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @03:22PM (#13708826)
Yeah I'm to be honest just trying to awaken people to the priority being that we need to establish a self-sufficient colony somewhere other than Earth.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by rocqua on Thursday February 23, 2017 @06:57AM (#13713197)
Honestly, as long as humans stay stuck to earth, losing all humanity on earth won't hurt anyone. As long as the extinction is instant. If we have colonies, those colonies need to suffer through the knowledge that we lost earth.

Establishing colonies is only imperative if the continuation of the human race is. I'd argue that humans have value only due to other humans. There is nothing inherently valuable about human life from a non-human perspective.

That is not to say I don't support space colonization, just that I don't think its a moral imperative.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by jacobush on Thursday February 23, 2017 @08:53AM (#13713821)
"There is nothing inherently valuable about human life from a non-human perspective."

How would you know?

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by nkrisc on Thursday February 23, 2017 @09:14AM (#13713972)
It's a perfectly reasonable assumption until there's some evidence there is. Given the vastness and scale of the universe, it seems quite likely that our disappearance would never be noticed.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by jacobush on Friday February 24, 2017 @07:11AM (#13722859)
Going unnoticed is not the same as inherently not valuable. Imagine aliens finding us extinct, wringing their little tentacles in dispair at the lost probing opportunities. :)
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by Balgair on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @04:55PM (#13709560)
Well, HN is not the most optimal place to do that. There are not many of us on here and we all already know these things. 1600 Pennsylvania Pl. is a better bang for your buck.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by dragonwriter on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @06:20PM (#13710211)
I think you probably mean 1600 Pennsylvania Ave. (not Pl.), Washington, D.C.

Though I don't share your assessment that that is a productive place to direct citizen input on this (or any other) issue.

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by Balgair on Thursday February 23, 2017 @12:38PM (#13715823)
Thanks!
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by Spare_account on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @03:49PM (#13709016)
Elon Musk is working on that.

http://www.spacex.com/mars

[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by blueprint on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @03:52PM (#13709028)
And you're certain enough that he's going to be able to do it in time and that he's doing it properly enough that you don't have to do anything about it. And you'll continue to go about doing the exact same things. Got it.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by Spare_account on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @03:59PM (#13709095)
In no way attempting to deflect from my own regrettable inaction, I'm curious to know what you're doing about it?
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by bubersson on Thursday February 23, 2017 @02:23AM (#13712264)
Based on his previous achievements I feel like he is likely to move the field forward by big steps. And if not him the people after him. I'm not sure if pushing myself into field I don't understand much would help the progress. Scientists do science, not activists.
[ Parent | on HN ]
Re:Seven earth-sized planets discovered circling a star 39 l... by maverick_iceman on Wednesday February 22, 2017 @05:09PM (#13709678)
Are you a space activist of some sort?
[ Parent | on HN ]