The ultimate goal and fantasy of mankind is to travel to the stars — to worlds beyond our reach and imagination. What is the final frontier like? What fantastic mysteries does it hold? Will we find a world of intelligent beings or maybe just life beginning to take hold on some other planet besides Earth? Or will we find a strange and wonderful emptiness in a world far from our own with its unique features and terrain?
The whole idea of setting sail for the stars is engulfed in excitement and covered in mystery.
Apart from dreaming about the final frontier, will we be able to set foot on another world, perhaps be able to explore and maybe later on live in one? According to science fiction, we have already done that more times than we can count, but, in reality, it seems too far-fetched an idea.
Well, not anymore. Serious study and preparations are now underway for interstellar travel from Earth to other stars. Yes, it’snot happening next year or the year after, but efforts are underway for leaving Earth for another star system in the next 100 years.
Experts are surely trying to turn this dream into reality. They have even given us a date, 2112, to boldly go where no man has gone before.
“Yes it can be done,” stated to the media, Dr Mae Jemison, former astronaut and now lead team member of the 100-Year Starship programme, “The 100-Year Starship is about building tools we need to travel to another star system in the next 100 years.”
Well said, but while all the experts and scientists in the concerned organisations put their expertise and knowledge into this exiting venture, there are many hurdles along the way.
The universe is vast and unknown, at least most of it. Just sending a probe is another thing, but humans, now that’s another “enterprise” altogether. First of all, it will be a long haul journey comprising many years. Let’s say if the time to reach thetargeted destination is a hundred years, then there are not many options as to how astronauts would survive the long haul trip.
But then again scientists are constantly trying to solve this hurdle. Not as advanced as getting into “hyper drive” or go through wormholes, as we have seen in science fiction, one option is long sleep duration for travellers.
How this can be done also sounds like a fantasy but is seriously being experimented. There are many animals that hibernate like bears, squirrels, etc. But since humans cannot naturally sleep for such extra long periods, strange options are being looked for.
Let’s assume that this can be done like in sci-fi fantasy movies. Sleeping for 50 years will make the astronaut wake up, let’s say at the age of 70 years, which will hardly be a good time in his or her life to start a new life on a distant world.
The next option, which is even weirder, is sending frozen human cells in certain conditions that they would be programmed to grow up while on the ship. But let’s say, 100 babies do manage to grow up and endure the journey. Who would tell them who orwhat they are or where they are going. For this purpose a robotic ‘nanny’ could be their teacher in all aspects of life and educate them in the necessary ways. These children would then grow up have families and thus train their children and by the time theyreach another star system, there will be enough people to populate a new world. But what if the robotic nannies malfunction!
What if there is a spread of some sort of viral disease? There will be nothing but the vast, darkness called space out there. The entire endeavour would be disastrous.
Worst still would be if the mysterious and strange world they reach has another colony that got there before Earthlings and are not in the mood to entertain guests from another world? But even with all the risks and mysteries that space holds, interstellar exploration will become a reality sooner or later, according to experts, and many questions that the cosmos is hiding in its shrouded dark, mysterious vastness might be solved.
But how and when will it really happen, this is one mystery mankind cannot wait to solve.