Human beings are the only intelligent life on earth. From the day human beings are born, we can see the sky above our heads. At this time, countless people will think: What is there on earth? And such doubts have accompanied mankind for millions of years. It was not until hundreds of years ago, when mankind entered the age of science and technology, that they began to uncover the mystery of the universe.
Now, with the help of science and technology, we can initially walk out of the earth, see the real earth world, and see the vast space beyond the earth. Before human beings walked out of the earth, they thought that the earth was the boundless vast world, but when we walked out of the earth, we knew how ignorant this kind of cognition was.
Outside the earth is the solar system. In front of the solar system, the earth is just a small planet. With the continuous development of science and technology, we have observed the galaxy of the solar system. At this time, we understand again that the solar system is just a galaxy with thousands of coefficients. A member of billions of galaxies. The solar system is as small as dust in front of the Milky Way, and our observable universe has reached 93 billion light-years. This range may be just the tip of the iceberg of the vast universe.
Exploring the entire universe is still an unreachable dream for humans at present. For humans, what they need to do in the future is to be able to get out of the solar system and explore the nearby starry sky. But it is such a simple dream. Some scientists believe that it may never be realized. What is going on?
Some scientists believe that due to many factors, humans may never leave the solar system. Some people may say that the solar system is not very large. As long as we work hard, I believe it will not take many years to use human technology. It’s easy to do. Is this really true? In fact, this goal is far less simple than we thought.
If human beings want to get out of the solar system, we must first understand how big the solar system is. After human beings just walked out of the earth, scientists delineated the scope of the solar system based on Pluto, that is, the scope of the past nine planets is the scope of the solar system.
However, with the improvement of human observation technology, we have found that the range of the solar system is far wider than what we know from afar, so how to determine the range of a star system? What criteria is used to make the judgment? Scientists believe that it is more accurate and reliable to judge the star system based on the distance of the star’s gravity.
According to the standard of stellar gravity, with the mass of the sun, its gravitational range can reach about 4 light-years. A light-year is the most basic unit of distance in the vast universe. It is a gap that cannot be crossed for current human technology. Even the fastest spacecraft currently requires tens of thousands to traverse a distance of one light-year. Time of year.
Therefore, if we want to get out of the solar system, we first need an ultra-fast vehicle speed. This speed must at least reach the preliminary sub-light speed. It is impossible for us to spend tens of thousands of years to shuttle through the solar system, because the life span of human beings is limited, only average. For decades or so.
So what conditions need to be met in order to achieve the initial sub-light speed flight? The most important thing is the breakthrough in energy, so can human energy achieve major breakthroughs? If human beings are given enough time and resources to develop, then the continuous breakthrough of energy technology is certain.
But the real problem is that resources are not infinite. Although the resources of the universe are infinite, the resources of the earth are limited. We all know that since mankind entered the era of the industrial revolution, the energy used has basically been fossil energy, and these fossil energy are formed by the earth over hundreds of millions of years, and they are all non-renewable resources.
The development of human industry is inseparable from these fossil energy sources. Once they are exhausted, industry will stop developing. Without the development of industry, the development of science and technology will be stagnant, and even reverse. Energy is the core and foundation of the rapid development of industry. Without energy, there will be no driving force for industrial development.
And the industry has stagnated. No matter how powerful our science and technology theory is, it will only be on paper in the end. Because all technological applications require energy, and with the continuous advancement of technology, the demand for energy will also increase. With the earth’s fossil resource reserves, it will not be exhausted in many years. If there is no new energy that can completely replace it at that time, human industrial development will stop.
The problem of energy depletion is only the first limiting factor that we have to face when we get out of the solar system. Even if we solve the problem of fossil energy supply in the future, for example, mining the resources of the asteroid belt may allow humans to consume resources for a longer period of time. But even so, we still need to face another bigger problem, and that is the quality of energy.
Our current application of energy is still at the molecular stage, and the energy level of the molecular stage is relatively low. The energy it produces can be powerful in the earth era, allowing us to go out of the earth and explore the solar system. However, this energy is not enough to allow us to get out of the solar system. This is because the upper limit of chemical energy is very low, and the current application of fossil energy by mankind is close to the upper limit.
If energy cannot go from the molecular stage to the atomic stage, then even if mankind develops for millions of years, we will never be able to truly improve the quality of energy. For example, as early as 50 years ago, it took about half a year for us to set off from the earth to Mars, but now it still takes about half a year to set off from the earth to Mars.
The reason why the time from Earth to Mars has not been significantly shortened in 50 years is that we have not really achieved a major breakthrough in the application of energy, and we are still at a very low molecular stage. An initial application of the atomic phase is controllable nuclear fusion. Only when this is achieved can our energy be leap forward, and the speed of the spacecraft is expected to increase to sub-light speed.
So after the speed of the spacecraft is increased, can humans get out of the solar system? Of course not. At this time, we still need to face a problem, and that is human beings themselves. We all know that the human body is actually very fragile because it has extremely high environmental requirements. It cannot be too cold, not too hot, afraid of squeezing and collision, and even very afraid of radiation. Taking a step back, even if the basic environment is satisfied, the human body still needs to supplement hundreds of trace elements every day to maintain the vitality and health of the body.
If we can’t solve the very weak physical fitness of human beings, even if we have other conditions to get out of the solar system, at most we can only send unmanned probes to explore other galaxies, and humans will still be trapped in the solar system and cannot go out. Of course, to solve the problem of human body weakness, it will not be difficult in the future. Powerful genetic technology can continuously strengthen the human body to meet the requirements of adapting to the cosmic environment.
Therefore, if mankind wants to get out of the solar system, the most important limitation is the quality of energy. As long as the energy is solved and the energy is broken through from the molecular stage to the atomic stage, there is no hope of getting out of the solar system. And this energy level breakthrough is related to whether the resources can be continuously provided. If the earth’s resources are completely exhausted before mankind breaks through the atomic stage, then mankind may never be able to get out of the solar system.
