Originally Posted by
albear
this is going nowhere ...
Albear : how right your are on this! Indeed : we are going nowhere.
It is however you who makes claims that carry no support at all. It is you who suggests a superior advanced humanity. It is you who suggest alien life to be less evolved than humanity. It is you who suggests that "space travel" technology, knowledge, and capabilities exists, something that simply is incorrect. It is you who bypasses the limitations and consequences due to time problems, set by relativity. It is you who seems to forget that earth is running out of means to develop "space travel", both in products, technology, and financial support.
Once more : this is a science board, not a SF board.
How else do you think you could meet an alien species? Please note that they do not come to you, and you can not go to them. We do not know for sure that they exist (though their existence is highly likely), nor where we should search for them. It is realistic and logical to conclude that at least for now "space travel" is too problematic, and the costs involved too high.
You seem to think that the years of spending great quantities of money and materials on space can go on endlessly. But these first mini-moves with "space travel" in our "plastic pool on a beach of a gigantic big ocean" were not based on some innerneed to research the universe, but were financed by the cold war, by military funding and support, by political needs.
Today the world economy is at the brink of total collapse. Nature is also at the brink of total collapse. We are heading towards global warming with rising sea levels.
Whatever funding there is (left) should go towards preservation of the existence of life on this planet. That is what is important! Putting much more money on fusion energy would be a much better idea, than wasting billions on "space travel" dreams. That could solve all our energy, environmental, and pollution problems in one single go !
You seem to think that meeting alien species can easily happen by travelling to far away solar systems. But why would humanity waste it's last energy resources on that? Putting satellites around earth for various activities is possible and often useful. Sending some unmanned scientific satellites out for research of the solar system we can do. But interstellar manned traffic is completely out of our league. We can not do that, and we should not even try that. It's a complete waste of time, resources, and financial means. And it is dangerous (see last lines).
The nearest stars are at about 5 light years. Even if humanity could learn how to travel on a quarter of light speed, it would require a lot of energy and time (years of it) to reach that speed, than about 5 years to travel, than a similar time to "brake" again. Including the return flight that would amount to at least 30 to 40 years (if we could arrange for the energy required for such a trip).
It would require hibernation and reawaken of staff, and reaching 25% of light speed. Both technologies we do not have.
However : the nearest stars so far have not shown to have any "goldielocks" planets, where life as we know it is possible. So we have to go much further, to star systems at hundreds or more light years.
Taken the limitations of distance, the increasing costs of travel, the lacking technology, the impossibility to travel near light speed, "space travel" will remain a hollywood "StarTrek" feature only.
Besides that : even if we could develop technologies to meet all these requirements, and obtain sufficient funds for such a trip : who needs data that is hundreds of years old from one single trip? By that time here on earth we will have developed instruments that provide us the same data also, without all the hassles.
Face it : manned "space travel" is science fiction. And that not only goes for humanity : that goes for all in the universe. That is why we are not visited by aliens (if they exist). The universe is too big. Even our own galaxy is much too big for our (and their) capabilities.
As I already stated earlier : I am not negative. I am a realist.
Real unmanned "space travel" is the best we can do, but I doubt if even that will ever take off, in both meanings of the word. I do not refer to old satellites that visit the borders of our solar system to travel onwards to reach many years in the future some near-by stars. I mean real "space travel".
Your approach - unsupported by any means, reasoning, and logic - is highly based on some romantic views on "space travel" you derived from years of watching Hollywood products. The reality of space is that we simple can not go there, nor have the means to get there.
Originally Posted by
albear
i hope we do one day make contact and they are friendly
The odds are against that. So why risk the existence of humanity? If we take humanity as reference (a species that misuses everything on it's way for it's own gain, even if that means annihilation of other species, and destroying it's own planet), why expect other (alien) species to be different? Our starting point should be realistic and therefore based on the assumption that they are as we are : unfriendly and extremely selfish.
As I commented earlier already : you approach "space travel" from a romantic science-fantasy angle. You should become more realistic and face the real problems, the natural limits, and the possible dangers involved !