60 years later, is it time to update the Drake equation?

Re:60 years later, is it time to update the Drake equation? by behringer on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @07:27PM (#27202640)

The speed limit of the universe is light speed. If you were to send a powered probe into the universe at almost the speed of light, and then send a light speed signal out on top of that, it would still be sent at the speed of light.

Eg, no signal sent from any probe will ever get as far as our first radio signals sent into the universe, unless we find a faster than light solution.

This is what Einstein discovered for us, which is called the theory of relativity.

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Re:60 years later, is it time to update the Drake equation? by kortex on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @08:48PM (#27203276)

I read it to mean "probe that is moving hella fast and also radiating in every direction." So there is a "contact cone" rather than a "contact sphere," increasing the amount of space interacted with (even if only briefly)

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Re:60 years later, is it time to update the Drake equation? by behringer on Tuesday May 18, 2021 @08:58PM (#27203348)

I think if you were to radiate out from any point inside of an enlarging circle, enlarging at the same speed as that circle, I can't see how it would radiate away from that bubble.

That said, the signal would be much stronger if you tuned it for specific regions of space.

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