"Will man ever be able to travel such long distances over space and master time?"
Answers have been given from one great man, Albert Einstein. His unsurpassed theories of relativity, although ahead of his time, can only be tested with the technological means of the future. Not a single current technology of man can really perform what A.Einstein has expressed in his famous words on"bending time".
The famous equation E=mc2 (square) has been the foundation of the light speed measurement (300,000 km/sec or to be more precise 299,792,458 meters/second) system (also called as the upper limit of speed measurement = nothing travels faster than light!) where modern astronomy, physics even science fiction (industry) is based on to make calculations, illustrations, hypotheses and eventually money. Light speed, in other words, is the "measure" or in Greek the "metron" (μέτρον) with which man comprehends, observes and test all assumptions made from modern science.
Just to make myself and others more familiar with the light year definition: A light year is used from scientists to measure, among other things, distance for very distant objects in space. One (1) light year, is the actual distance, one will cover, if he/she travells with the speed of light (299,792,458 meters/second) for 1 full Julian year.
Just to make some calculations:
1 Julian year = 365.25 days = 8,766 hours = 31,557,600 seconds
=> 31,557,600 sec x 299,792,458 m = 9,46073 *10x15 power m
or a little bit below 10 trillion km = 1 light year travelling
Though our current subject has to do with whether man can really fulfill it's destiny and travel far away into outer space. My dear reader, based on current technology rest assured that even for interstellar flights (travelling between different solar systems) this is impossible. Safe estimations put this feasible in maybe 1000 to 1500 years time, to be optimistic.
The reason behind why man cannot make either interstellar or intergalactic flights: scarcity of R E S O U R C E S + Τ Ι Μ Ε limitations. Let me explain myself:
1) there are not enough fuels, on this planet, for one to travel a mere light year, not to talk about several more to the nearest (4.2421 light years) star Alpha Centauri (and to a possibility of an earth-like life).
2) inter-galactic travelling is out of the questions mainly due to time problems. It takes too much time to travel, let's say for example from our "Milky Way" galaxy to the nearest "Andromeda" galaxy (named after the Greek princess Andromeda [Ανδρομέδα]) which is only 2,5 millions light years away! Not to talk about travelling somewhere else!
3) Faster Than Light (FTL) travelling is not excluded from the theory of general relativity. Of course here we have the basic hypothesis where there might be particles called "tachyons" from the Greek word "ταχύς" which means swift, that might travel in certain space areas undistorted from gravitational forces faster than light. Will man once master these particles, for own benefit?
4) Wormhole travelling, hm.... yes! of course I accept this physical phenomenon but it is slightly different from the fact that these phenomenas can serve man with his trips to the universe. Their main problem: very unstable (if not created at all!)
Last but not least: T I M E constraints on the traveller or "Einstein's Twin paradox". Imagine 2 twin brothers (Captain Ein and Officer Stein). Captain Ein is our space traveller and Officer Stein our Earth observer. Captain Ein is set to travel to Alpha Centauri, our nearest star (4,24 light years), his age at the start of the travel is 25 (the same with his brother Officer Stein!). Captain Ein takes off from Earth, hitting 99.99% the speed of light, headed to Alpha Centauri. He needs a little over 4 months, earth time, to reach Alpha Centauri and by the time he lands there he is 25 years + 4 months year old. Can you guess how old is his brother (Officer Stein)? ....guess harder....he is close to 49 years old.
If we were to travel to more distance stars, say to star Alnilam - 1,340 light years away from Earth - then Captain Ein would have needed a lifetime (he would be +70 years old when he would have landed there) and his brother would be history! (his Earth age would be 3,225 years old....).
Of course, the twin paradox is backed up with Doppler's time dilation theory (using advanced mathematics) which basically take Albert Einstein's General Theory of Relativity, one step futher and make it useful to understand things better. It's hard to think how time can affect man's biological clock! Isn'it?
Afterall, time is running differently depending on how fast you travel!
So, why better not book tickets for this place we talked about, with the exotic cocktails and this magnificent sunny beach? We better hurry, because I (we) don't have a lifetime to spend wondering!
A link to one of the best, self-explicable articles on "Twin Paradox": http://www.scientificamerican.com/article.cfm?id=how-does-relativity-theor&SID=mail&sc=emailfriend
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