Escape
 

Escape from this planet. Why?

Speed of Light Table - 4.2 light years   186,000 mps 1 second 186,000 miles 1 minute 11,160,000 miles 1 hour 669,600,000 miles 24 hours 16,070,400,000 miles 365 days 5,865,696,000,000 miles 4.2 yrs 24,635,923,200,000 miles

If I wanted to leave Earth, with my body.... If I managed to maintain a speed of 50,000 miles per hour, I would take only 56,246 years to get to that nearest star. Oh joy!

Distance travelled in 24 hrs travelled per year 4.2 yrs 1,000 mph 24 hours 24,000 miles 8,760,000 mpyr 24,635,923,200,000 miles 2,812,320 years 10,000 mph 24 hours 240,000 miles 87,600,000 mpyr 24,635,923,200,000 miles 281,232 years 20,000 mph 24 hours 480,000 miles 175,200,000 mpyr 24,635,923,200,000 miles 140,616 years 50,000 mph 24 hours 1,200,000 miles 438,000,000 mpyr 24,635,923,200,000 miles 56,246 years 100,000 mph 24 hours 2,400,000 miles 876,000,000 mpyr 24,635,923,200,000 miles 28,123 years

Yes "a piece of cake"  shall hereafter refer to afternoon tea.

       The velocity required to escape the gravity of the Earth is around 40,250 km per hour. Under this speed the mass of any craft or body would be in the grip of the Earth's gravitation and would only go into an orbit or drop back to Earth. Going into or staying in an orbit depends on the mass (weight) of the craft or body, the velocity; the force acting against the resistance of atmospheric gases and of course the gravitational pull of the Earth at the particular altitude which means - depending on the vertical distance from the centre of the Earth.

       When the craft or body escapes from the gravitational pull, it will accelerate relative to the force provided by the propulsion system... as in a rocket system. When the velocity of the craft reaches a speed of around 50,000 mph relative to the Earth, one might be able to , or could "turn off the engine" and "coast" onward. This motion would be constant if the craft were not acted on by any form of resistance such as gases or objects (masses) in the path of the craft, and by gravitational fields of masses (such as planets, moons, asteroids, dust, etc, and even light itself).

       Then there is the matter of the "target"... the destination. Hoping the journey is worthwhile, one has to note the speed of the craft relative to the position of the destination star. It might be moving as part of the galactic spiral and could be moving away or toward or across one's path. So this would have to be considered when setting the "cruising velocity." Then there is the matter of correctly identifying relative motions and speeds in deep space. Targets are not easy to hold on to.

       So depending on the velocity achievable, maintainable and on whether a human artificial life support environment could be maintained for that long.... it might be better to "colonize a moon" and take it along as a "craft" ... or create a craft as large as a small moon or asteroid....

How many generations of humans would be needed to travel for 56,246 years? What kind of resources would be needed for that length of travel? Even with suspended animation, such a trip is frankly, rediculous.
 

Some of these visitors to Earth from "out there" at least (I would assume we mean beyond the nearest star)... would either be very old or bred on the way if they could not travel near to the speed of light. At around 70 years per life-time, it could be that a generation could occur from around 15 to 35 years at an estimate. In other words they would be young and innocent - separated from their ancestors in a way that would be very upsetting to arrive on this Earth to be confronted by the rabid psychosis and paranoia of Earths peoples. Its a long way to travel only to be hunted down and treated like a specimen or an escaped convict, INVADER or "alien".

Maybe we should think twice about going out there to visit anyone - if they are there? No fun being shopped up for experiments.

So I gave up on the idea of just wanting to "Escape!". I would be too old by the time I got there, and as I couldn't get any support to try it during my childhood, I figure it would be a one way trip straight to my death anyway. Outside out solar system, this is about the extent of "our" options for now anyway.

So I thought about how I would rather get here or there, and wrote a few things down at the time, to go over later, when I was not afraid to... well when I get some of it in order.... Much of it was stolen years ago. It is all incomplete and I am wondering if I should write it up anyway.

Besides it seems that "the Americans" don't like the idea of anyone leaving right now. (I wonder who they think they really are?) Just turn up with a plan of anything that looks like you might escape this place and see who comes a knocking at your door....

For years I thought I had it all worked out about living here, but one of the mysteries that screwed up my satisfaction was how to accept the cruelty and ignorance of some of "the locals". They're tough enough; laugh about a few things, but boy do they hate anything that comes along to change anything for the better.

From the 1960s, history tells us about the changes that took the Western World through a phase of Awakening, which I would like to suggest, has long since died. (The '1980 and '90s killed that off I'm sure of that before more than a tenth of the world got to hear about it.)

Having said all that, still.... I believe there are signs of amazing things to come.

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