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Feb. 14, 2011 About 4 years ago I posted an article on useless-knowledge.com entitled Kinetic Energy and Interstellar Travel. This was in conjunction with a debate I was having with another useless-knowledge writer. The purpose of the article was to make it easy to understand the derivation of the formula KE = .5mv^2, kinetic energy equals one-half the product of mass and the square of velocity. If mass is in kilograms, and velocity in meters per second, kinetic energy will be in Joules. What I didn’t do was give some concrete examples of what this formula means for space travel. Suppose we have a space capsule that weighs 1000 kilograms, or about 2205 pounds, and that it is flying at 10% the speed of light, or 30,000,000 meters per second, with respect to earth. Then KE = .5 x 1000 x (30,000,000)^2 = 4.5 E 17 Joules, i.e., 450 million billion Joules. There are 3,600,000 Joules in a kiloWatt-hour, so KE = 1.25 E 11 kWh, or 125 billion kWh. We can calculate that a 1000-megawatt power station will take 125,000 hours or 14 years to generate so much energy. Of course the fuel that will generate as much energy as a 1000-megawatt station working 14 years has to be taken with the capsule into space. So we have to get a 1000-megawatt power station into a 1000-kilogram capsule. Obviously this is impossible. If we elect to use a capsule of 10,000 kilograms, then we need the energy that ten 1000-megawatt stations will generate in 14 years. This is even more impossible. If it were possible, we could get to the nearest star in 40 years. If we settle for 5% the speed of light, then our power stations will have to work only 3.5 years, but it will take us 80 years to get to the nearest star. But we’re not going to get a power station aboard a capsule of any size or speed. So we can assume that interstellar flight from planet Earth is impossible. Let me quickly sum up the reasons we will never reach the stars: 1.) We don’t have enough energy. 2.) Our materials aren’t good enough. 3.) The distances are too great. 4.) We don’t live long enough. 5.) We don’t have enough money. 6.) There is nothing to gain by flying to another star. Anyone who thinks about it will understand that the conditions that make human spaceflight impossible are likely to prevail everywhere in the universe. I suppose it’s conceivable that somewhere in all the reaches of space, there may be a few enclaves or havens where beings live longer, have better resources and closer stars. But except for that remote possibility, it looks as if interstellar travel is impossible everywhere. That there is no evidence that aliens have ever visited Earth is quite comprehensible once we realize that space travel does not and will never exist anywhere. Space travel is all a science-fiction daydream. Of course, I’m not an astronomer, and never paid much mind to space, but what I cannot understand is how distinguished scientists have paid so much lip-service to space travel. Surely they should have known decades ago that interstellar travel is impossible. ------------ About the author Thomas Keyes: I have written five books: ELEMENTS OF GRAMMAR and A SOJOURN IN ASIA (non-fiction); A TALE OF UNG, THE ENNUNMENT and GVAGMA (fiction). I have studied languages for years and traveled extensively on five continents. Visit my website here. Email: udikeyes@yahoo.com
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