5 REAL Possibilities for Interstellar Travel

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The prospect of interstellar travel is no longer sci-fi. It COULD be achievable within our lifetime! But, how would an interstellar rocket-ship work? On this week's episode of Space Time, Matt talks options for interstellar travel - from traditional rocket fuel to antimatter drives, could we travel to other star systems? Watch this episode of Space Time to find out!

"Quantum Entanglement & Spooky Action at a Distance":

"The Real Meaning of E=Mc²":

"Could You Fart Your Way To The Moon":

"The Speed of Light is NOT About Light":

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COMMENTS:

andrea papone

Jai Kalra

RedStefan

TheColonel

Tyler Hamilton

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[griffincrump]

Imagine being sent to alpha Centauri on a fusion ship you spent 90 years on only to arrive and find humans there because about 20 years after you left someone figured out how to use a black hole drive

[galacticgrilledcheese]

If you watch this video on mute, it looks like he's trying to convince you not to punch him

[trajan_x]

“Pretty realistic”
“Increase our antimatter output by 100 trillion trillion”

[csabaalmasi]

Plan how to save humanity:
Step 1: Get to a blackhole
Step 2: Get in it
Step 3: Stalk on a little girl from her bookshelf.

[CaptainNewman]

That awkward moment when you actually have the tech to reach 10% the speed of light in a ship... then collide with a particle of matter the size of a grain of sand and watch your ship get destroyed 😂😭

[londonfalling]

Glad there are smart people out there thinking about these questions, instead of wasting time with celebrity gossip. Cool video

[Lutranereis]

It's a little bit depressing knowing that in my lifetime, we might send a probe to another star but it will take so long to get there, and for any information to be sent back, that I almost certainly (without a major breakthrough in the cure for aging) will not see the results.

[poodledad]

I don't know if I've ever gotten this man's name, but I've watched a lot PBS Space Time and I really like the more laid-back style he has in this video: he's more animated, he's making jokes, and he has a little grin like he's just in his zone and loving it. I guess what I'm saying is that I find his enthusiasm in this video more engaging than his more rigid presentation in other videos.

[billwhitis]

The one single necessary ingredient for space travel: A united planet.
Good luck with that.

[OljeiKhan]

I was expecting something like " a fuel tank as big as the Earth" but as big as the observable universe?!!
I'm just sittin here like :O right now :D

[ankiking]

Amazing how many of these ideas were included in the Three Body Problem sci-fi book series.

[siddbastard]

Giving a motor a German name is all you need to convince people that it's not only working, but sleek and safe ^^

[alans]

A spaceship miscalculated and hits a planet at 10% speed light with nukes on board, or a pile of unspent anti-matter...whoa, not a good way to introduce yourself.

[kylelin]

*“Born too late to explore the world, and too early to explore the universe”*

[SwayJJ]

The fact that it would take us 120, 000 years to get to the closest star is mind boggling and puts into perspectivie how ridiculously small we are

[elqueso]

I was surprised that a big issue with traveling to the stars was not mentioned: friction and collisions. Even at .1C you're going to get an awful lot of erosion just from hydrogen atoms you encounter in interstellar space. At .8C that much worse. Just from the atoms you'd have to have a very strong shielding system of some sort to ensure your spacecraft doesn't simply get worn down to a nub and fall apart before you get a large part of the way to Alpha Centauri. And that doesn't take into account bigger things, like little pebbles or even microscopic bits of debris like molecules that could cause serious damage given their kinetic energy in relation to the spacecraft. Going at those kinds of speeds your inertia keeps you on track and it's difficult to see something far enough ahead to avoid the object if it's big, impossible if it's small. Electromagnetic shields could deal with smaller particles perhaps, and physical, ablative shields for the bigger, but that adds serious mass.

[mackbeth]

I've got a question. How did You manage to make Space Time my favourite You Tube show?

[SawtoothWaves]

"There's some very serious rocket science in this episode about farts."

[ASMRunning]

3:52 It would actually take 2*sqrt(2) times as long to reach Alpha Centuri because your average speed is much faster on the second half of the voyage than on the first half when you don't decelerate. Thus, it would take about 124 years instead of 90.

[TheEshanDas]

how do we avoid hitting meteors and other space stuff at such a high speed?