Science: Extraterrestrial Life
planet spaceship   (+1, -2)  [vote for, against]
forget leaving earth, lets leave the solar system

since jules verne and way before we've been trying to leave earth and explore 'the final frontier' ... well we're missing the point! if space exploration is so cool we should all be allowed to do it not just some pumped up space jocks. So. What we do is 1. make sure evryone is prepared: wooly jumpers incase it gets nippy 2. sun cream in case it gets a lil toasty 3. find a way of ejecting a ginormous amount of earth into space (huge nuclear explotion or bit by bit in space trucks) i.e australia (smug gits) by which we change the mass of the earth to a significant degree for us to fly out of our current orbit and off we go, on a trott around the universe. Now obviously we risk a bit of interplanetary billiards, but hey, there's alot of space out there and nothing ventured... some time after we set off, we should think about inventing earth sized brakes, just incase we find a planet of highly attractive morally ambivalent space women who can breathe through the tops of their heads. infinity and beyond!!!!!
-- etherman, Apr 27 2004

For more information http://www.halfbake...editorial/help.html
All the rules for posts and ideas [sartep, Oct 17 2004]

Space: 1999 http://www.amazon.c...detail/-/B00006FD8P
Moon as space ship. As if a nuclear explosion or twenty could knock the Moon out of orbit. [DrCurry, Oct 17 2004]

Vagina Jam http://web.archive....com/idea/Vagina-Jam
Thanks to the Way Back Machine [sartep, Oct 17 2004]

Crash Mercury into Venus Crash_20Mercury_20into_20Venus
More on moving planets around [JakePatterson, Apr 16 2006]

Please allow me to help you...
I understand that you are new to the Halfbakery and this information can make your next ideas more effecient.

A. This idea has been discussed in many science fiction books before. Ringworld by Larry Niven is one that comes to mind. Good book, I suggest it.

B. Also you haven't suggested any solution as to how one can do as you say.

For example if you can come up with a new way to get billions of humans into space and keep them all warm that is different or more detailed than the science fiction books while using working physics, then you would have an idea that others would like.

I recognize the good nature and humo(u)r of your idea. Those two aspects will always be well received around here. Welcome to the halfbakery.
-- sartep, Apr 27 2004


Planet fishbone.
-- yabba do yabba dabba, Apr 27 2004


Heh. Home: decoration is a rather dubious category.
-- RobertKidney, Apr 27 2004


Tidbit: without the sun, we die.
-- waugsqueke, Apr 27 2004


//if space exploration is so cool we should all be allowed to do it not just some pumped up space jocks.//

You said we should all be "allowed", but the idea sounds more like we would all be "forced to". And I'd rather not be left behind in some space capsule. I rather like living on earth just where it's at.
-- scad mientist, Apr 27 2004


hey guys gimme a break. ok I'm not too hot on the sience, which is precisely why its a half baked idea. So why dont you science bods help me out with some ideas, eh? Could we ever make this idea work?? Oh and waugsqueke, I mightn't be the sharpest tool but aren't there other, bigger stars out there to warm our buns against, might take a while gettin there mind you. So lets plan for a few years subterranean hibernation using the earths core as a heater, and maybe it would last long enough until we get where we're going? Can someone do the maths for me, I'm an artist for Gods sake. The home decoration category was accidental, although I suppose things would start to look a bit different pretty quickly.
-- etherman, Apr 28 2004


etherman: very few people get any slack around here, so don't take it personally. (And FYI, those few include the resident artists, so post some nice pictures to go along with your ideas, and they'll be much better received.)
-- DrCurry, Apr 28 2004


sorry doc, i'm a theatre director, difficult (although not necessarily impossible) to do on the net. but thanks for the advice.
-- etherman, Apr 28 2004


oh and sartep, been taking a browse of the so called best ideas on this site and most of them contain absolutely NO scientific thought or reasoning. Check out 'Tails for all,' for example. basically says 'why dont we all have tails it'd be cool,' and the guys got more croissants than france. least I made an attempt at putting a scientific spin on things.
-- etherman, Apr 28 2004


// least I made an attempt at putting a scientific spin on things //

You did? I must have missed that.
-- saker, Apr 28 2004


//A. This idea has been discussed in many science fiction books before. Ringworld by Larry Niven is one that comes to mind. Good book, I suggest it.// [sartep]

Actually, this is more like the "Cities In Flight" books by James Blish. Whole cities or chunks of cities (like Manhatten) are sent into space by the use of spindizzies (re: magic).
-- GenYus, Apr 28 2004


And don't forget "Space:1999". Or maybe you should.
-- phoenix, Apr 28 2004


[marked for deletion]: bad science.
-- yabba do yabba dabba, Apr 28 2004


I am happy someone has noticed my science bod.
-- bungston, Apr 28 2004


Etherman, many of those older ideas were based on previous (more lax or not stated) rules, I highly recommend you look at the link I provided for the most accurate and up to date rules. Posting some ideas can be frustrating when you don't look at the help file.

Yes, 'Tails for all' might not fly under todays rules, I agree, but you neglected to notice, 'Panic Pin,' 'Custard filled speed bumps,' and 'Copper coated car tires,' which happen to have more of a science behind them and also happen to be more original, AKA not appearing in hundreds of science fiction books. Also, the ideas I mentioned are within the top 5.

My science bod would love to help you out but I would rather hear your solutions to the problems you pose because anything I post would have my influence on it. Instead, I would rather hear new and refreshing points of view that differ from my own.
-- sartep, Apr 28 2004


yabba, apparently this idea contains NO science according to saker. Now you reckon its bad science. Care to expand on it a little? The idea is basically that we calculate how much matter we need to remove from the earth to alter our orbit enough so that we take a trajectory which sends the planet out of this solar system.

We've explored this solar system fairly extensively and there doesn't appear to be much to offer in terms of life or minerals on other planets. So maybe we should search for a more bountiful solar system. If we calculate our trajectory precisely enough to encounter the magnetic feild of another star at the right point we should begin to orbit it instead. Whilst this inter stellar navigation is going on the human and animal population retreat below ground and attempt to survive on geothermic heat from the earths core.

I realise that 'enforcing' the worlds population to under take this endeavour would be wrong, but then we in the west aren't usually bothered about consulting the rest of the world about our grand schemes. Plus the possibility of finding some moons or planets which could solve our mineral resource problems should benefit everyone.

Ok, now form an orderly queue for the coconut shy .
-- etherman, Apr 29 2004


// apparently this idea contains NO science according to saker //

Where is it then? Just saying "change the mass of the earth to a significant degree" is hardly scientific. This is, as has been pointed out, science fiction at best; magic then. Oh, and sp: explosion. Amongst many other things.
-- saker, Apr 29 2004


ok guys I give up, I'm officially the worst half baker in history. Saker I was merely pointing out the contradiction between my idea having no science and the accusation of it being bad science. i dont disagree with either criticism just noting that both can't be true. tabs, damning stuff. looks like we're staying where we are. i'd saved up 12.5 billion air miles too, looks like it wont be enough. hanging my head in shame... but check out dictatordaq, coz thats a cracking idea.
-- etherman, Apr 29 2004


// I'm officially the worst half baker in history. //

Don't flatter yourself. You got a ways to go yet.
-- waugsqueke, Apr 29 2004


yeah 17 billion km plus according to Tabs. What is the record for fishbone accumulation anyway?
-- etherman, Apr 29 2004


Don't stress, [etherman], it's not personal. By the way, look under the croissant at the top of the page. Click the "worst" button. There are some *real* howlers in there. Personally, I miss "Vagina Jam".
-- saker, Apr 29 2004


couldn't find vagina jam saker, sure that isn't just a lil personal fantasy.. you're starting to worry me. what does the label on vagina jam look like?
-- etherman, Apr 29 2004


I think that was one of the few ideas to get over 100 fishbones. Here is the only working link I can find in the way back machine it's one of the older ones.
-- sartep, Apr 29 2004


thanks for the link sartep, actually no... i really wish you hadn't given me that link. that is sick beyond belief.
-- etherman, Apr 29 2004


//We've explored this solar system fairly extensively //

Are you kidding me?
-- yabba do yabba dabba, Apr 29 2004


See? Now you feel better about your ideas, and yet you feel worse and horribly sick. :)
-- sartep, Apr 29 2004


we'd probably just get battered by asteroids, isn't there a whole belt of them in orbit beyond the planets? I could be confused by any number of bad sci-fi films here.
-- q2cannonfodder, Apr 29 2004


You could go straight through the asteroid belt and the chances are you wouldn't see a single asteroid, at least without a telescope.
-- grayure, Apr 29 2004


The 'home decoration' category sounded like something I would do just for the fun of it. I've been known to have some fun with them in the past. But I'm better now, or will be as soon as I take my meds again...
-- RayfordSteele, Apr 29 2004


Well, there you go, that explains it ;)
-- NotTheSharpestSpoon, Apr 15 2006


There have been proposals, in speculative circles, that as the Sun brightens over the next half billion or so years, we should be progressively moving the Earth into a more distant orbit. The mechanism suggested is to send asteroids on close flybys to Earth, giving a little nudge of energy to Earth at every pass. Now, this is a far cry from moving the planet into a different solar system, but it is more practical. I would suggest that if we had the ability to eject enough of the Earth's mass to cause the Earth to accelerate to escape velocity, then we have the ability to fuel a really fracking big space ship, and accelerate it to relativistic speeds, thus achieving the journey to another star within a manageable amount of time as observed by the ship’s passengers. Remember, a space ship made to comfortably fit a million or so humans, and shield them from radiation, would still be many orders of magnitude less massive your Planet Spaceship, and would therefore be able to achieve greater acceleration with the same amount of energy. If you really must use a planetary body, I would suggest Mars, which is much less massive than Earth and already at more distant orbit to begin with. Or better yet, Titan or Enceladus. In any case, you could build a spaceship big enough to house (and shield from radiation) a million humans out of a large asteroid. You could, in fact, build several such spaceships, and send them in different directions. Of course, none of this is a new idea.
-- JakePatterson, Apr 16 2006



random, halfbakery