Science fiction movies often depict almost impossible events, such as alien invasions, cyborg takeovers, or space travel. As of now, humans have only traveled to Mars, and the Moon and the rest of the planets are only seen through the use of various technologies or equipment.
None of the humans' travel either to Mars or the Moon involves traveling at a speed of light as it takes hours to days to reach the destination. It is because the laws of physics that govern the universe do not allow traveling at near-speed-light.
In NASA's new animated video, they explained how interstellar travel would be if a spacecraft move in a speed of light.
NASA's Guide to Near-light-speed Travel
According to Albert Einstein's Theory of Relativity, there is no way to reach or exceed the speed of light. To travel through space, the only options are to either take the long haul or find a means of propulsion that allows for constant acceleration until a relativistic speed of light is attained.
The space agency's new video entitled NASA's Guide to Near-light-speed Travel assumed that the interstellar traveler had built a spacecraft capable of traveling at least 90 percent of the speed of light. The video started with the safety considerations for near-light-speed travel, travel times, and the distances of the popular sites in the universe, such as the Proxima, Centauri, and the Andromeda.
Watch the full video here:
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Challenges in Interstellar Travel
In reality, these challenges of the interstellar travel presented in NASA's video are the things scientists around the world are still trying to figure out. For example, the Breakthrough Starshot is a project that aims to send a laser-powered light sail that could travel as fast as 20 percent of the speed of light reaching Alpha Centauri in just 20 years, relying on directed-energy propulsion.
Expectedly, this plan needed considerable research into the possible hazards of interstellar travel, which gave birth to creative ideas and solutions for dealing with these challenges.
Some of them are shielding, communication systems, the kind of cameras and equipment that would yield the best scientific data, the type of sail used, and the shape of the spacecraft itself, as well as considering how the speed of the spacecraft would slow down once it gets there.
But these are not the only things needed for the project's success. These are just a list of the creative solutions that the team of scientists has come up with.
For now, it would be best to have informative resources to educate people about the real laws of science used is presented in many of the all-time favorite science fiction shows or books. It would help aspiring physicists who hope to see space travel happen during their lifetimes.
NASA's new video is presented by the experts from the NASA Goddard Media Studios (GMS) of the Goddard Space Flight Center (GSFC). The team of experts is led by Universities Space Research Association (USRA) member and multimedia producer Chris Smith and together with his co-USRA member Krystofer Kim, the lead animator of the video.
Click here to download more NASA Goddard shorter clips of the video and its printable postcards.
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