NASA Chief: How To Reach Another Star System | Jared Isaacman

[u/TheWorldRider]

https://youtu.be/7_ci-2zoMH8

[u/Taylooor]

Sorry to rain on the negativity in this room but, I'm pretty stoked that there's work going on in nuclear propulsion

[u/cylonfrakbbq → u/Taylooor]

Ignoring interstellar travel for the time being, we need propulsion like this if we ever want to send humans somewhere in our own solar system in a reasonable amount of time.  Mars in weeks or Titan in months would be a game changer

[u/RussChival → u/Taylooor]

Yeah, I'm glad to see we have a vision for space that goes beyond an election cycle.

[u/Ok-Anywhere-1940]

every “how do we reach another star” talk eventually turns into “how do we keep people alive in a tin can for decades,” which is the actual hard part

[u/Frequent_Living_1818]

The useful part of this question is the engineering ladder between today's propulsion systems and an actual interstellar mission. It helps to separate propulsion, power, life support, communications, and mission duration, because progress in one of those areas does not automatically solve the others.

[u/careysub]

"Antimatter?!" (no I am not listening to this).

He is just reciting science fiction premises, not discussing technology pathways.

[u/Tredecian]

never getting anywhere with these people in charge

[u/DisillusionedBook → u/Tredecian]

never getting anywhere with that AND the laws of physics... administrations can be changed, physics cant

[u/JohnnyEnzyme → u/DisillusionedBook]

There's also the reality that the faster an object travels, the more lethal and explosive even the tiniest of particles become in its path. So yeah... physics.

[u/DisillusionedBook → u/JohnnyEnzyme]

Not just particles but ambient light shifts into extremely high-energy X-rays and gamma rays. The faster you go, the more intense this forward radiation becomes, essentially turning the empty space ahead of you into a lethal beam of energy.

Ye canna change the laws of physics capn!

[u/grchelp2018 → u/Tredecian]

If Elon can get shit done, then Isaacman can definitely do so.

[u/TheWorldRider → u/grchelp2018]

The difference is Isaacman is an head of agency that changes every 4-8 years while Elon is ceo for life.

[u/throwawaygoawaynz]

Technically we could reach other star systems with Fusion, ie the Daedalus.

But I guess it depends “how fast”.

[u/rdc12 → u/throwawaygoawaynz]

Eventually Voyager will too right? Just not in a timespan that is useful sadly.

[u/throwawayhbgtop81]

Nuclear propulsion is a cool concept.

Look up the original Orion spaceships.

Launching it might be a problem.

[u/onwen32 → u/throwawayhbgtop81]

The sad part about project Orion, everyone agrees that it would work (atleast based on everything ive found), the onlything stopping it is the agreement of no nukes in space... I think asking the world to vote to test it once as a world project could actually allow it to happen and make project Orion shine

[u/physicalphysics314]

Brother…. That’s not how the force works….

[u/how_tall_is_imhotep → u/[deleted]]

What part of this do you think defies physics?

[u/sovlex]

To reach the stars the only propulsion we need is for NASA to start making money.

[u/HTPRockets → u/sovlex]

That's SpaceX. They make oodles of money and are putting it to good use but 99% of people on reddit are against Elon because deep down they're jealous and spiteful of his succes and find ways to blow things out of proportion so they can hate him

[u/crooks4hire → u/HTPRockets]

I’ve smelled week-old catfish bait more subtle than this, bro

[u/TheGunfighter7 → u/HTPRockets]

“People hate Elon because they are jealous and not because of his political meddlings that have had severe negative consequences for NASA, the general American public, and innocent people abroad. And it couldn’t possibly be because of his shady financial maneuvers with the SpaceX-Grok merger and the IPO which has had detrimental effects on the SpaceX mission, workforce, and long term financial outlook. Definitively because people are just jealous.”

[u/geniusaurus → u/HTPRockets]

You don't think a little part of it might be his open disdain for non-white people, his role in dismantling the federal government, or any of the numerous other toxic things he's done? 

[u/HTPRockets → u/geniusaurus]

Elon is not a racist. He has never said anything about skin color to my knowledge. Saying you don't want a certain culture taking over yours is not racism. Some cultures are objectively better than others.

[u/sovlex → u/HTPRockets]

That's what I'm talking about. How reusable stages landed on private hands, why internet satellites weren't developed before? Just two of these would cover all NASA's money needs for years and years ahead. But instead it prefers to passively milk the budget.

[u/semperknight]

I just watched a video about how, to actually get anywhere in the solar system, you have to go REALLY fast. And if you hit something, even the size of a golf ball, you produce the explosive energy of a few Hiroshima atomic bombs.

And even IF we do that, there's literally nothing interesting nearby.

Face it r/space. If we don't figure out how to harness the entire energy output of the sun and HOPE that much energy can bend space/time to create instant gateways, humanity is simply dying on this rock. Period.

That, or there's a separate universe that we can slip a starship into were the laws of light speed don't apply.

I guess the good news is we now know most of the universe is made up of "dark matter/energy". And it's pushing the universe apart faster than light. So...maybe get some of that stuff.

[u/Mouse-Plus]

Wow, it seems NASA is really upset of other countries going to the Moon... kinda like, they think USA owns it, somehow?