As a science fiction writer, I often wonder what space travel would look like for “normal” folks.
If you have ever been stuck at your house because of inclement weather for a few days what happens? Cabin Fever. Not too many years ago we had snow here in Dallas that kept us all indoors for several days. We don’t have chains here in the south, and we don’t have snow shovels or snow machines.
A snow storm here in Texas is usually a pleasant diversion from the ordinary. Schools close at the first flurry, and people rush out to the stores to buy up supplies like they were going to be stuck for weeks on end. No, usually just a few hours to a few days tops.
Realizing that cabin fever is a reality for a few days, I have yet to travel to Australia, not because of money or lack of invitations but the sheer terror of being stuck on a plane for 20 hours! The only way I made it to Hawaii was to layover a few days in Vegas, catch Hawaiian air from there to Hawaii making that leg only six hours. Did the same on the return trip where I visited the spa at the Hard Rock and fell asleep during the massage.
That was somewhat troublesome when you think about it, naked and asleep while some person is kneading your body and you have no idea if you enjoyed it or not! Or did they enjoy it….? No, let’s not go there….
So let’s take it to the next step.
How long does it take to get to Mars?
For argument’s sake let’s say a year.
A year without going to the mall.
A year without Facebook or any of the other trappings of life that you are used to.
A year of drinking processed urine… Yuck!
A year just to get to your destination and then what?
Why go to Mars, other than it is there?
It is not like you are going to go outside and catch some rays…
What if you get a toothache?
What if some other medical abnormality afflicts you?
Yes, they medically assess your body and rank you as far as your probability of having issues.
How many times have you heard of someone getting checked out by their cardiologist telling them that they are fine? Once they get checked out, they walk out the door and suffer a myocardial infarction?
Imagine you are so far from earth that messages take up to 15 minutes just to go one way?
That would make surfing the web really slow.
That would also eliminate the possibility of some surgeon on earth using something like the Da Vinci machine to remotely do surgery on you. Ruptured appendix, some accident you name it you must depend on a crewmate to do whatever it takes. What if you are the doctor and you need the emergency procedure?
So, you get to Mars, and you have managed not to see REDRUM on some wall.
Wisely NASA has kept all the axes off the ship.
Why go to Mars?
It is a cold dead planet that has been sterilized by the lack of atmosphere and radiation. No matter what mineral you found the cost of getting it from Mars to the Earth would be prohibitive.
Mars is not the final frontier. Getting to Mars and setting us some sort of colony would only be beneficial for what we would learn from it.
When situations arose, and we came up with workarounds to fix them as we have done in space travel before. Yes, we went to the moon, another cold dead rock in space.
As a science fiction writer, I have time travel as a component of space travel.
The physics we have today that we think we understand are not complete. Imagine taking the formula 2.1+2 and coming up with 4, not 4.1.
We are close, but we don’t have the point one or the point 000001. There is a margin of error which is enormous.
We don’t understand time. We think of it as linear, and it is not.
When you think outside the box, you realized that time is consistent with the zone that you are in.
Gravity warps space thus space-time. The time around the sun is different than the time around the earth. The time in this solar system is different than the time outside the solar system. Outside the heliopause time is different.
NASA has a conundrum on their hands in that the Voyager spacecraft are decelerating. They are slowing down.
“How can that be?”
There are many theories. The one they have settled on is based on a byproduct of the power supply on the craft. They assume that the tiny (infinitesimal) amount of heat produced by the reaction of the power supply is acting like an ion engine pushing against the fabric of space.
OK, nice try but could it be that space-time where the craft is, may not be the same as it is here?
The space-time around a black hole is much different than it is here so it only makes sense that the further away from sources of gravity “warped space” that time would act differently.
Now if true, that means that the distance between galaxies and stars is different as we perceive it to be!
What if the constant speed of light is not constant at all but fluid depending on the medium through which it travels?
Time is the next frontier. We need to understand the physics of gravity and time.
We mark time with our watch or a calendar which is punctuated by events, a series of linear events. I would posit to you that time is not linear at all. Dilation of time is provable, we need to take it to the next step.
If we assume that the recent reports of alien craft visiting this earth are accurate, and I am willing to believe that they are, then we must deal with the how and the why!
The craft over O hare shot up at an astounding rate, faster than a bullet.
The craft captured on the air force pilots camera took off at a similar rate.
If we stick to our stodgy understanding of physics, we just deny that it happened. “That is not possible as the inhabitants would be flattened against the inside of the ship… F=M.A don’t you know…? What you say happened does not fit our model of physics, therefore, it did not happen…! “But it did!”
In my latest novel and in Under Roswell I posit that time can be modulated or manipulated. If our alien friends switched their craft to a different time constant for them, they would just be floating along having a beautiful day. To us, they would shoot off like a bullet. That is what we saw so ergo we must assume that they have figured it out.
Why can’t we figure it out?
The first part of the problem is we have to think outside the box!
If you like my reasoning, please take the time to read either of my books Under Roswell, Saga of the Starduster or Ghost Signals from Colorado Springs.
The ideas are mine, they are not borrowed from anyone.
The concepts belong to me and nobody else.
I can be reached through my website on the contact page www.authortwscott.com.
Follow me on twitter @authortwscott.com
Or here on WordPress!
The final thought for this blog is we must understand better, that which we take for granted, Time!
Much Love -TW
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