Originally Posted By fkurucz >>So with an autonomous ship it'll keep sending signals and whoever is on earth could still receive and interpret those signals. It's science - what ever countries or organizations are in power is irrelevant. That signals will still be sent and anyone with the right gear will be able to receive them.<< I'm not saying it can't be done. I just done see the motivation. Heck, we can't even get our butts in gear and go to Mars, even though it's very feasible. Governments are broke and big biz is simply uninterested.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer Most of the technology we need is already available. The only additional techs we need are a longer-lasting, more powerful energy source and a transmitter that can send signals back here and probably an orbital or deep space relay platform for the signals. All of those things are being worked on for other projects. Someone like an Elon Musk or Richard Branson is going to realize that he can send out a probe to a neighboring system and keep his name in the news for centuries, and it won't cost him all that much money to do it once others have developed the technology for other uses. Don't forget that we're at the dawn of the commercial space age. SpaceX and Virgin Galactic are already providing lift services to NASA and supplying the ISS, and don't forget that Branson and Larry Page (of Google) are financing a company that expects to start commercial mining of asteroids within the next five years. It won't be the government or a company that does this - it will be a billionaire who wants to be remembered.
Originally Posted By Tikiduck I watched an interview with Michio Kaku, who talked about the emergence of recorded intelligence. Basically, it is a way for brain processes from an individual to be transferred to computer storage. With refinements and time, this could enable an individual to save the essence of their intelligence to a permanent unit. These units could be integrated into a deep space probe with the possibility of eventual discovery. In the meantime, future generations could eventually communicate with those from the past. Heavy stuff!
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Don't forget that we're at the dawn of the commercial space age. << Agreed, but they are in it to make money. How do you make money by sending a probe on a 500 year, one way journey?
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Basically, it is a way for brain processes from an individual to be transferred to computer storage<< You mean copied. I know many dream of "downloading" themselves into a computer and becoming immortal, but that isn't really what would happen. A facsimile of your psyche would be copied into the target, which would simply be a copy of you. But you would still be you in your old body.
Originally Posted By fkurucz >>Someone like an Elon Musk or Richard Branson is going to realize that he can send out a probe to a neighboring system and keep his name in the news for centuries, and it won't cost him all that much money to do it once others have developed the technology for other uses.<< That is an interesting thought, and is plausible. But I think we need to develop new tech to pull it off. For one thing, our current chemical based propulsion systems are not up to the job. Arthur C. Clark covered this in "Songs of a Distant Earth." We also need to develop comm systems that could work over the distances involved. Make the beam too narrow and if your aim is poor you miss the Earth, make it wider and you need exponentially more power. These problems can of course be resolved, but it will take $$$, a lot of money. Now, if we end up with strong nation states or a world government, I could see it happening. If we end up with corporate overlords, I doubt it.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer They are in it to make money, but someone with money who wants to make a mark on the world may pay for it himself so his or her name is remembered. If Branson or Musk were to pay for this project and put their name on it people would still be talking about them 1000 years from now. Wealth + ego
Originally Posted By fkurucz When I say that big biz is uninterested, what I mean is they are not interested in footing the bill, unless there is profit to be made. So sure, they want in on the satellite launch biz, because you can make money doing that. Sending a probe to Vega? Unless the taxpayers foot the bill, I don't see it happening, unless as was pointed out, that some tycoon wants it to be his legacy after he dies.
Originally Posted By fkurucz I agree that it is possible the maybe a tycoon would want to do this. But there are technical hurdles still, the main one being propulsion systems. Then again, the Tycoon might have legacy interests closer to home. Plus it is highly likely that after centuries the probe would arrive at its destination and only find a dead, barren rock. Sure, it would make the news, but I fear that after the novelty wore off it would be forgotten, much like what happens with our current Mars probes, which only get launched because of taxpayer funding.
Originally Posted By fkurucz As a child of the 1960's, I am very disappointed with the meager progress we have made regarding space exploration. Back then we all really believed that we would have landed people on Mars by now. Some of you might not know this, but we had a "goal" similar to Kennedy's putting a man on the moon speech. The target was to do it by 2000. The sad truth is that we collectively lost our fascination with space exploration, so much so that we currently lack the ability to send our Astronauts to the ISS and have to hitch rides on old Soviet era Soyuz craft.
Originally Posted By TomSawyer If a tycoon finances the mission, it'll be using technology created for other uses. If there is money in asteroid mining, as Planetary Resources and DSI will be finding out over the next 20 years or so, then the race will be on for more efficient and more powerful propulsion systems and more autonomous control systems.
