2. Messing With Orbital Dynamics
Despite seemingly running like clockwork for millennia, the orbital dynamics of our Solar System are actually held in a surprisingly delicate balance. So if we were to start moving around planetary bodies or changing the mass of our star, perhaps through a stellar engineering project, we run the risk of destroying this fragile harmony.
We’ve already demonstrated through nuclear proliferation that we have the capacity to destroy our planet’s entire landmass hundreds of times over, and who know what we’ll do to the other apparently lifeless planets in our solar system once we get our space mining terraforming enterprises up and running. According to astrophysicists, even the slightest orbital disturbance could eventually result in some catastrophic extinction-level chaos. The reason for this is because every object in the Solar System feels the gravitational pulls from every other object in the Solar System. Thus, two orbiting bodies can still influence each other even if they’re very far apart, and frequent close encounters between disproportionate bodies can result in smaller bodies getting destabilized or even ejected out of the Solar System altogether.
http://phys.org/news/2013-06-s-star-cluster-galactic-center.html Via phys.org
1. Experimenting With Warp Drive Technology
In 2012 Harold White blew the minds of sci-fi fans everywhere when he announced that he and his team at NASA had started work on the development of a faster-than-light warp drive. His proposed design, is derived from the theoretical Alcubierre Drive, and if the technology operates according to spec it should be able to transport a vessel to our closest star (Alpha Centauri) in mere weeks rather than the thousands of years it would take with conventional propulsion systems.
The concept doesn’t even violate Einstein’s laws of relativity because rather than exceeding the speed of light within a local reference frame, the spacecraft would traverse distances by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it, creating the effect of faster-than-light travel. Problem is, the negative mass energy-density field required to create the warp bubble requires an insane amount of energy that roughly equates to the mass of Jupiter. And with that much energy in play, the warp drive vessel could end up destroying everything around it once it reaches its destination.
According to FTL researchers, space particles can get swept up into the warp bubble and then released in energetic outbursts when the craft decelerates. Therefore any planet or planets caught in the path of these outbursts could be instantly obliterated by a blast of gamma rays and high energy particles.
http://www.scarletcityroasting.com/espresso/warp-drive-espresso-blend Via scarletcityroasting.com
Wes Walcott
Wes is a devourer of media. He ravenously consumes podcasts, books, and TV shows with seemingly no regard for review scores or subject matter. If encountered in the wild, Wes is said to respond positively to verbal cues relating to X-Men or the SNES. The subject can be easily captured and tamed using Transformers or Gundam models.