Poll of the Week: Long Duration Space Flight

By Jim Gerard, NASA Education Specialist, KSC, FL

Keeping humans alive in low Earth orbit has been a challenge that has been overcome with at least a small degree of confidence.  The next challenge is to translate that into longer and longer terms and then to greater distances.  With the knowledge gained from the International Space Station we can plan and prepare for a journey to Mars or near-Earth asteroids.  But will that be enough to go further into the Solar System, and eventually beyond?

This weeks poll asked how you think NASA would solve this problem.  The solutions offered are right out of science fiction (we'll explore some of these more in the NASA @the Movies Live Chat in May) but that does not mean they shouldn't be investigated.  Placing a spacecrafts occupants into a hibernative sleep or suspended animation overcomes the challenge of supplying travelers over the long journey.  Generation ships allow for normal lifespans, and only require a robust technology that will last years or even centuries.  But neither of these solutions attempt to solve the greater problem - how to shorten the time.  That's were exotic propulsion systems enter the picture, including faster than light travel.  But read what was posted on the Discussion Board:

I'm going with suspended animation--if we wanted to travel faster than the speed of light, we'd need some major technological and physics breakthroughs.  Suspended animation seems more plausible at the moment.

I definitely agree, suspended animation seems the most reasonable. Generation ships would be an option, except that it would be very bad for the kids developmentally to grow up surrounded only by family. This is not to say family is not necessary, but children also need more people around to stimulate them. Physically, the low gravity environment would be terrible for bone structure and muscle development. The kids would never learn to walk, and would never grow proper bone density, a sure cause of osteoporosis. Also, it wouldn't really be fair to expect them to grow up on a ship instead of a planet, like humans were designed to do, not to mention maybe they would like to live their own lives, rather than continue the dream of their parents, however noble the dream may be. Faster than light is impossible according to the quantum mechanical model. It has been proven that light speed is the speed limit of the universe for real particles. So unless NASA has simply decided to break the speed limit, (and hope the cops don't notice! ;) ), warp flights are definitely out. A shame, too. :( And NASA never solving this problem is not an option. What's the point of all the discovery exploration stuff if we're just gonna be defeated over minor obstacles. There is an answer. Right now, from the options on this poll, I would say suspended animation. That would work nicely. NASA may also find another solution, one that no one even has a clue about. But they will find something. :)

FTL technology would be best, but even if we only get speed of light technology, while the time factor is a problem, the people on the ship will hardly age because of relativity. Since time slows down as the speed of light is approached, at the speed of light the passengers will age almost none, so they will still be about the same age that they left at even if it takes 40 years to get to where you are going. We will also need to figure out gravity manipulation for this to be plausible, though.

It would be kinda annoying though when they get back, to have not aged at all and everyone else they know is dead. The mission would have been forgotten by the time 80 years went by.

This weeks poll asks your opinion on where the orbiters will retire.  As always, use the Discussion Board to champion your opinion and challenge others!