Forget Space Travel, It's Just a Dream

An anonymous reader writes "The clash of two titans — physics and chemistry — are major barriers to human space travel to Mars and beyond, and may well make it impossible ... at least with current technologies."

Comments

Um, ok...

[pushing-robot]

...But that's the thing about current technologies: They inevitably insist on becoming obsolete technologies.

"at least with current technologies"

[webrunner]

So basically something we haven't invented the technology for is impossible until the technology is invented.

I'm so shocked.

Errr... Chemistry?

[Warwick Allison]

Plenty of interstellar ship concepts propose nuclear power and are therefore outside the "titanic" power of mere chemistry.

1850 has send you a telegram

[kikito]

According to Physics and Chemistry self-propelled chariots are impossible STOP self-propelled flying vehicles are a fool's errand STOP Internet is that little net inside some pieces of underwear STOP.

Re:We can get to Mars and back.

[JasterBobaMereel]

Got to space in Early 60's

Got to the moon in the late 60's

Both of these were single hop's, a trip to Mars is likely to be a staged journey, build the craft in orbit, or on the Moon, and use fuel from Space, the article assumes that the only possible way is a single hop from the earth to Mars (or further) taking everything, fuel, supplies with you.... This is impractical, but not impossible

Making predictions about future technology is foolish at best .... go and speak to anyone in the 1950's about a compter with 6,000 logic gates, contained within 40 square mm they would say that was against the laws of physics and chemistry ... but the Intel 8800 had this in 1974

Re:How about

[Rei]

Everybody knows that the solution to end the $1.6 trillion deficit is to cut the $700 billion military spending, while leaving the $800 billion health care and $700 billion social security spending intact.

The current extremes of our deficit are due to the fact that we're in the greatest recession since the Great Depression. In case you didn't notice. Our average deficits are a fraction as much. And our deficits are as much if not more a problem of continued tax cuts then they are of spending.

That is, if you forget that nearly half of those $700 billion military spending is manpower cost, which would become unemployment benefits

So military spending causes stimulus but other kinds of spending don't? Really? So old people don't buy stuff when they get their social security checks? Doctors and nurses live in caves and burn their cash for warmth?