Quotes About Space

Given that humanity must one day flee the solar system to the nearby stars to survive, or perish, the question is: how will we get there? The nearest star system, Alpha Centauri, is over 4 light-years away. Conventional chemical propulsion rockets, the workhorses of the current space program, barely reach 40,000 miles per hour. At that speed it would take 70,000 years just to visit the nearest star.

Einstein's Cosmos

The deep space transport uses a new type of propulsion system to send astronauts through space, called solar electric propulsion. The huge solar panels capture sunlight and convert it to electricity. This is used to strip away the electrons from a gas (like xenon), creating ions. An electric field then shoots these charged ions out one end of the engine, creating thrust. Unlike chemical engines, which can only fire for a few minutes, ion engines can slowly accelerate for months or even years.

Naves espaciales nanorrobóticas inteligentes, no tripuladas, podrían alcanzar sistemas estelares vecinos con una pequeña fracción del coste de construir y lanzar una enorme nave espacial que lleve una tripulación humana.

Los agujeros negros en el centro de las dos galaxias ejecutarán una danza de la muerte antes de colisionar y fusionarse finalmente.

las leyes de la física admiten la posibilidad de abrir un agujero en el espacio concentrando suficiente energía en un punto, hasta que accedemos al espacio-tiempo espumoso y emergen agujeros de gusano que conectan nuestro universo con un universo bebé.

The dinosaurs became extinct because they didn't have a space program. And if we become extinct because we don't have a space program, it'll serve us right. —LARRY NIVEN

possible for astronauts to lift impossibly heavy objects with ease.

And at the speed of light, you have taken the fastest possible journey to the stars. From your point of view, the trip is instantaneous.

starships of the future may have to spin, creating an artificial gravity via centrifugal forces in order to sustain human life.

Third is Omega, the relative density of the universe. If Omega were too small, then the universe would have expanded and cooled too fast.

el tiempo se frena más dentro de un cohete cuanto más rápido se mueve.

Forbidden Planet

La atracción gravitatoria es una ilusión. Por ejemplo, quizá ahora esté sentado en una silla, leyendo este libro. Por lo general, diría que la gravedad tira de usted hacia el asiento, y por eso no sale volando hacia el espacio. Pero Einstein diría que está sentado en la silla porque la Tierra deforma la masa de espacio sobre su cabeza, y esa deformación le empuja hacia el suelo.

One of the most beautiful photographs of a galactic black hole is the one taken by the Hubble space telescope of the galaxy NGC 4261.

There are many advantages to space solar energy. It is clean and without waste products. It can generate power twenty-four hours a day, rather than just during daylight hours. (These satellites are almost never in the shadow of the Earth, since their path takes them considerably away from the Earth's orbit.) The solar panels have no moving parts, which vastly reduces breakdowns and repair costs. And best of all, space solar power taps into a limitless supply of free energy from the sun.

As a practice run before aiming for distant stars, scientists may decide to send nanoships to closer destinations within the solar system. It would take them only five seconds to zip to the moon, about an hour and a half to get to Mars, and a few days to reach Pluto.

Goddard murió en 1945 y no vivió lo suficiente para ver la disculpa escrita por la dirección del The New York Times después de que el Apolo llegara a la Luna en 1969: «Ha quedado definitivamente demostrado —escribieron— que un cohete puede operar en el vacío y no solo en una atmósfera. El Times lamenta el error».

the Deep Space Gateway, which will act as a refueling and resupply station for missions to Mars and the asteroids. It will be the basis for a permanent human presence in space. Construction of this lunar space station will begin in 2023 and it will be operational by 2026. Four SLS missions will be required to build it.

The first people on the historic mission to Mars are probably alive today, perhaps learning about astronomy in high school.

Titan could become an important gas station in space.

Thanks to the Human Connectome Project, which will map every neuron in the human brain, one day we may be able to send our connectomes into outer space on giant laser beams, eliminating a number of problems in interstellar travel. I call this laser porting, and it may free our consciousness to explore the galaxy or even the universe at the speed of light, so we don't have to worry about the obvious dangers of interstellar travel.

NASA officials did not know that commander Alan Shepard had secretly smuggled a six-iron golf club into the space capsule. They were surprised when he proceeded to take out the club and hit a golf ball two hundred yards on the lunar surface.

Quantum theory says that there must be quantum corrections to pure blackness, so black holes are actually gray. (And they emit a faint radiation called Hawking radiation.)