Solutions to the challenges of Space-Exploration

After discussing about the needs and the challenges of space-exploration, I think it's time for me to fire up some solutions and ideas that would curtail most of the problems faced.

I'm sure that all of you know what 'space-time' is. For those of you who don't, 'space-time' is any mathematical model, in which space and time are combined together into a single interwoven continuum. Sounds cryptic, doesn't it? Allow me to paraphrase the previous statement. Just like how an object in space is represented by its three spatial dimensions, i.e., length, breadth and height, an object in 4-dimensional 'space-time' is epitomized by its three 'spatial' dimensions, along with an additional 'time' dimension. I wouldn't want to obfuscate this concept by giving a more detailed explanation, but you need only know this to understand the following solution I'm about to offer in order to make space-exploration more efficient.

             Imagine that there are two different points in our 4-dimensional reality, one of which is our own planet, and the other one is a potential and promising world billions of light years away from Earth. Now, the distance between these two points is too great, and conventional spacecraft would never be able to reach that planet. So, we fabricate a device which 'bends' or 'warps' the very fabric of reality (space-time) as it travels toward that planet, shortening the distance between these two points and thus making the journey to that planet ephemeral, and its reach more procurable. That's not the only advantage here. As the so-called 'warp-drive' goes along, bending and warping the fabric of space-time, the 'time' inside it will be slowed down considerably, as a consequence of the prodigious Theory of Relativity. Hence, time would pass more slowly for the men and women aboard this warp-drive, and therefore, would incontrovertibly arrive at its destination with its crew still young and healthy.

             When it comes to the unavoidable and inexorable radiations present in space, we need to know more about them. The whole of our universe is enshrouded with cosmic rays, which are primarily composed of high-energy subatomic particles, like protons and electrons, streaming past each other, nearly or at the speed of light. Down here on Earth, we are unaffected by them, on account of our planet's magnetic field. If, somehow, we could incorporate this idea of a magnetic field into our warp-drive, the cosmic rays would be deflected away from it, and the astronauts inside would be uninfluenced by them.

           As an energy source, solar energy and nuclear decay are unreliable. But, the very Cosmic rays which we so desperately wanted to avoid can be used as an authentic energy source to fuel our warp-drive, or any spaceship for that matter. But, there are quite a few controversies going on about this, and a lot of research is still needed for us to ascertain methods to effectively utilize these tenuous but substantial radiations present everywhere in space.

If you guys have seen the movie 'Interstellar', you all would have noticed that the spaceship they use in the movie is in the form of a 'centrifuge'. They have adroitly and ingeniously utilized the centrifugal force present in the rotation of the 'Endurance' to emulate the gravitational force experienced down here on Earth. So far as I can tell, this is one of the best solutions that can be offered to overcome the problem of 'microgravity' or 'zero-gravity', as discussed in my previous article "Challenges of space-exploration."

                Another solution would be to construct a spaceship which would have a constant acceleration of 9.8 m/s^2, and consequently, would mimic the gravitational force experienced on our own planet. So the astronauts aboard this spacecraft wouldn't have to face the ill-effects of a zero-gravity environment. But, it is common sense that to produce a constant acceleration without any respites, an incessant force has to applied to the spacecraft. So, from where can we find an energy source to produce this kind of unremitting acceleration? Now, if I give all the answers here, then what's the point? I leave the answer of this question to you guys. For starters, I'd recommend you guys to get involved in abstemious research about 'Dark Matter'. The only thing about Dark Matter that I ought to mention here is that according to the Planck mission team, and based on the standard model of Cosmology, the total mass–energy of the known universe contains 4.9% ordinary matter, 26.8% dark matter and 68.3% dark energy. Thus, dark matter is estimated to constitute 84.5% of the total matter in the universe, while dark energy & dark matter together constitute 95.1% of the total mass–energy content of the universe, making it one of the greatest mysteries in modern astrophysics. Now, that's quite amazing, isn't it? So, good luck to all those students who've taken an interest in this topic, and are acquiescent about taking this up as their career.

Shreyash Dahale