COSMIC MEGASTRUCTURES - MULTI-GENERATION ARK SHIPS
The vast distances in space and the short lifespan of humans make human spaceflight impossible.
But there are interesting ideas that can overcome these difficulties. It is possible that Earthlings use spaceships, multigenerational planes, to conquer space.
The idea of long-term space travel dates back nearly 100 years. In 1918, the pioneer of rocket technology Robert Goddard said that the death of the Sun was inevitable and therefore an “interstellar ship” had to be built. According to his theory, the crew will sleep and remain in that state until the ship reaches the next star system. 10 years later, Konstanty Ciołkowski, one of the pioneers of cosmonautics, expressed a different opinion in his essay “The Future of Earth and Man”. According to him, interstellar travel will require the participation of many generations of people. Ciołkowski described a colony of Earthlings with an engine that would traverse space for thousands of years. The area of the planet is called Noah’s Ark, from the famous story of the Bible. In 1929, physicist John Desmond Bernal presented his ideas about the future of Earthlings in space. Bernal describes a multi-generational plane in which life will continue as it is on Earth. After many years of travel, the original travelers will eventually die, but they will leave generations of their children on the ship. The entire cycle will be repeated several times, depending on the destination of the ship. Therefore, the end of one’s life will not be the end of the message.
In 1964, the physicist Robert Enzmann introduced the idea of an interstellar plane that could be a ship. The length of the vehicle will be about 600 meters. The main habitat will consist of three cylindrical modules wide and long, located behind a large ball of frozen deuterium. About 200 people can live in the boat. According to the plan, the ship can reach a speed of at least 9% of the light, and according to some estimates even 30%. In later years, Gregory Matloff and Alan Bond presented similar works. Getting the speed the boat needs is just one of the many problems with the boat concept. Such a ship must be fully equipped, providing everyone on board with power, food, air and water. Before the flight, it should be checked whether thousands of people can survive in such conditions.
For example, the immune system may gradually deteriorate over time on board. The occupants of the interstellar ship should be carefully selected. The right genes and the level of knowledge you have will be important. The ship’s crew must include skilled people who can operate the ship and repair faults. It will be necessary to teach the next generation how to save knowledge about space, make the planet higher, or build another ship.
There is a difference in the number of people who should live on such a ship. In 2002, John Moore, an anthropologist at the University of Florida, calculated that 150 travelers could be sent on a 200-year journey, and without a small genetic problem, they would arrive as healthy people. In 2013, University of Portland anthropologist Cameron Smith created a computer model that is expected to send at least 10,000 people. The humanist takes into account the possibility of accidents and diseases and advises that it is better to send different ships if one of them has a disaster in the sky.
One of the problems will be, for example, cosmic rays, which can damage DNA or increase the risk of cancer. Social issues will also be important. Sending a group of people on a life-long journey into space can have incredible results. Although the crew will be well-chosen, it is not known how such a journey could change them in a few decades. The inhabitants of the ship can create a unique community in which they will redefine the rules, conditions and decide what is good and what is bad. It may be that there is rebellion in the Ark. Those born on board may start such a rebellion.
This question raises several ethical questions. Although the first shippers were to be volunteers, their sons and daughters had already become slaves. It is difficult to see the moral situation in which people are condemned to life in ships by birth. People in the world often complain about the lack of expectations and limited life choices. Nowadays, people born on ships spend their whole lives in closed rooms, the only meaning is to work on the ship and have children. In such a situation, it will not be difficult for you to understand what your parents can do, and even the desire to rebel. It is also good to pay attention to the instructions for the construction of such a boat.
If mankind develops in harmony and peace, maybe scientists will find a better way to rule the universe. Scientific progress is constantly moving forward, which can lead to absurd situations. Imagine a spaceship entering space in 2030 in a star system 20 light years from Earth. The entire journey is expected to take 200 years, so the ship will arrive there in 2230. The problem is that in twelve years from the start, scientists can create a model the better of a ship that will reach there in a short time. time. For example, the improved spacecraft will leave in 2060 and reach the star system in only 50 years in 2110.
Therefore, it will exceed the original vehicle by 120 years. The question of robots and human intelligence is also important. In the coming years, there will be significant advances in robotics and it is possible that in about ten years, robots will accompany us in many of our daily activities. . It could be a working intelligence that will be responsible for space exploration. It seems more profitable to send humans to work for a lifetime than to send robots there.
However, there are certain circumstances in which sending such a ship to humans seems reasonable. This is a case where life on earth will be in danger. The famous science writer Arthur C. Clarke described a story in 1946 in which an entire civilization flees its planet due to the dangerous activity of its star. Another example of a threat could be, for example, a large asteroid heading for Earth. If our technology does not allow us to take that risk, it is possible that scientists will build ships of many generations. In this way, even if life on Earth were to cease to exist, Earthlings and their legacy would live on.
A shipwreck is an interesting example of a large structure that can allow deep exploration. For now, building such a structure is beyond us, but that may change in the future. Perhaps alien civilizations in space have advanced to such a technological level that they can build spaceships. I wonder if their representatives found such an idea useless, or if civilization escaped disaster because of such a ship.
