[X] My Assistant

[nprev]

If this thread's in the wrong place, please relocate...thanks!

Assuming for the sake of argument here that someday we'll have propulsion systems capable of propelling vehicles at a significant fraction of the speed of light, what kinds of technical challenges will be presented by the interstellar medium?

Right out of the gate, I can't see how anything we might build could survive hitting so much as a dust grain at even 0.01C. Heavy forward shields have been proposed, but the jolts from such collisions even if the spacecraft isn't vaporized would seem a bit unsettling to the payload.

Assuming that issue can be overcome and that we can actually go even faster (<0.5C), at what point would interstellar hydrogen become aerodynamically (or even hydrodynamically!) significant as far as drag? Would true starships actually have to look something like hypersonic aircraft, or even subs depending on relative hydrogen density?

[nprev]

Thanks, Bob. I had just barely heard of the Centauri study; looks like some good reading!

Well, we're certainly not re-inventing the wheel here; that would assume that the wheel already exists! Re enabling technologies for an interstellar mission, the only one that seems to be advancing at the desired rate is electronics; there seems to be little if any magic engine research in the offing...

[marsbug]

There seems to be no shortage of ideas and enthusiasm out there, just a shortage of suitable energy sources.
Perhaps minaturization will progress to the point where an interstellar payload would be small enough that such fearsome fuel requirements wont be needed. Could a a 1kg or less (payload mass) mission ever be practical?