"Using current rocket technology, it would take 76,000 years to get to our nearest star. However, there is hope that “light sail” technology currently under development could allow us to send a robotic probe to the planet in about 25 years." “If further research concludes that the conditions of its atmosphere are suitable to support life, this is arguably one of the most important scientific discoveries we will ever make.” Ever??? Says it all. Technology currently under development could reduce the time from 76,000 years to just 0.033% of that time. How long will that have taken to improve? Who thinks scientific discovery stops here? The mind boggles at what might be discovered in the next 100 years and 1000 years etc. What in the past has been considered inconceivable is now history. What is considered inconceivable now will one day be history. Not that difficult to comprehend
There is probably some really exciting stuff just around the corner, when it comes to colonising an off Earth home. Both Mars One and NASA hope to have people living on the red planet in the next 10-15 years. While Mars One is planning a one way trip for it's pioneers, NASA is planning to bring back it's space travelers. It'll take months to get there and NASA has stated that it's astronauts will not be coming home any time soon after landing. So where does this leave the development of the human body? Will those living out beyond everywhere, end up being the same as us after a few generations? As it stands, people whizzing around Earth in the International Space Station have suffered a number of problems, among them, bone loss of about 1.5% per month, around the hip area. While gravity conditions can be built into structures on other planets, there is a good chance that generations of these folk will start to take on characteristics dependent upon the planets conditions. With Mars' gravity only 38% of ours, there's every chance that their lower limbs will begin to thin out. I wonder if hundreds of years down the track, they might turn out to be like some of those tall, elegant, stick like beings we often see in sci - fi movies.
If they are under instructions not to have sex with the inhabitants but get tempted .......................... Well it does make you wonder where all these images came from
With something like 225 billion galaxies in the universe which holds an estimated 70 billion trillion stars, maybe there is a small chance of life in other places, other than on Earth James.
