Tech for Space Travel and beyond

State of the art communication systems will be required to keep us in contact with earth and other spaceships deployed to other parts of the galaxy. Now this is a huge feat because the distance between earth and other planets is big, it’s measured in light years (light years are the time it would take for an object travelling at the speed of light to reach the destination). Current communication technology uses radio waves/ microwaves which may not be ideal for instantaneous space communication. We also have no idea what communications technology aliens (if we are to have an encounter) use so as to initiate contact.

As mentioned in the article, a future with robots, we will need these metal buddies to help do some of the heavy lifting for us. Consider a mission to establish a moon or mars colony, robots can be sent in advance preprogrammed with architectural blueprints and build the necessary infrastructure before our arrival. Robots will work with the materials they find on the planet, build homes that can sustain human life and even drill for underground water once detected. They can also map the landscape and report back to earth on the environmental conditions such as air composition, sources of water, radiation levels and so forth. These robots should also be able to self-repair themselves with little or no human help.

Robots cannot be restricted to infrastructure building only but could also be used to perform medical operations on the mission crew when a human doctor is overwhelmed or is not present. They could be programmed with all the surgical operations and perform them with human-like accuracy. Machines that can support life are essential on colonies. Specialized machines that generate drinkable water and breathable oxygen from the atmosphere or untapped underground water reservoirs will be required. These machines will also enable food production for the established colonies. Also let’s not forget that the gravity may be different affecting our bone density, so we may need machines that can create that artificial gravity that matches the earth and or for exercise purposes.

With no efficient energy source to power our equipment and sustain life on the spaceships/ colony, it would be dangerous to even consider space travel. Think of it this way, you are stuck on a rocky planet with freezing temperatures and no way to warm yourself up. You probably wouldn’t last a week. Looking into an energy source such as nuclear power or coming up with an advanced energy generator would be the first step. Solar power is great but what if where we are going there is no sunlight?

Currently, we use rockets for space travel. They get the job done but there is one drawback, the fuel. To reach a planet like Mars, it may take a considerable amount of fuel. Some have said to get to Mars we may have to establish a fueling base on the Moon first. That’s a possibility or we could just go back to the drawing board and come up with another propulsion engine that requires a different fuel that we can readily get in space or can last the trip and back. There has been talk of the E.M( Electromagnetic) drive and other propulsion theories that do not rely on the use of controlled explosions the way rockets do. Point is, we will need efficient transportation when travelling to the colonies and when moving from point to point on the colonies.