Nasa Mars rover makes detailed crater image

[Jim Jeffries]

Look at our advancement in just 1,000 years... forget a million.

The year 1012 compared to 2012?

It's a completely different world.

Even the last 100 years.

A civilization doesnt even need to be a 1,000,000 years older than us to figure how to manipulate space and gravity... just 10,000 years older would be unbelievably more advanced.

Absolutely. Our ability to communicate with each other globally, an increasing number of genetic combinations to produce geniuses, a geometric progression in computing power. We've had intelligent people on this planet for thousands of years, but only recently have they had the ability to cooperate on a large scale with instant access to many lifetimes of work, with ever advancing equipment at their fingertips.

I don't have any idea what level of advancement is necessary to travel thousands of light-years or find shortcuts to doing so. But I think it's possible that other civilizations have existed for a long enough time to do so.

[Jerub Baal]

This is what Mars will look like in the not too distant future....

[Sweet Pea 50]

I think we will be relegated to putting around our own solar system for awhile, even with the advancements in Ion propulsion system's. But I don't doubt eventually humans will have the technology to travel to other systems.

[THE REED]

I think we will be relegated to putting around our own solar system for awhile, even with the advancements in Ion propulsion system's. But I don't doubt eventually humans will have the technology to travel to other systems.

When we can manipulate gravity and apply it to a vehicle, that is when we can go wherever we want. That is, if they don't have it already.

[OlympicGlory]

Well we could terraform the planet which would take over a hundred years. The carbon dioxide and other stuff released from the plants and all that here on earth would actually be helpful in Mars. I actually read and saw this on the Nasa channel. One of the problems would be ethical considering how we are destroying this planet and we might do that to Mars once it's terraformed.



Actually it takes around 6 months at a certain time of the year when Mars rotates closer to earth. I read somewhere in the 2030s there is a planned manned mission to Mars.

I have no idea how long it would take, but it will be extremely difficult to turn a planet into a green house. The amount of plants needed to sustain the environment and Oxygen levels must be a lot too. What makes Earth so unique is that we have the right temperature, atmosphere etc... Earth is positioned in such a good place near the Sun.

[The Hammer]

http://www.cbsnews.com/8301-205_162-...riosity-rover/

[OlympicGlory]

I think we will be relegated to putting around our own solar system for awhile, even with the advancements in Ion propulsion system's. But I don't doubt eventually humans will have the technology to travel to other systems.

I don't think so.

List of stars next to us. Closest is 4.2 Light years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars

I just did a search how long it takes us to do 1 light year. I have no idea but this dude wrote:

The nearest star to earth is the sun. It will take about 8 minutes to get there at light speed.

The closest star system that we know of is Alpha Centauri, located about 4.37 light years away (41.5 trillion km). If you traveled to Alpha Centauri at light speed it would take less than a second to get there, but only from your point of view. The eye observing the trip from earth will stare your spaceship for 4.37 years until you arrive. That is relativity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_paradox
4.37 years not counting acceleration and deceleration however since light speed is impossible lets put this into perspective:
at 75 mph it would take 38 million years
at 1350 mph (mach 2) 2 million years
at 40,000 mph (voyager speed) 70,000 years
That depends on how fast you're going. Assuming we can achieve the speed of light, it would take us a little over 4 years and 2 months to reach Proxima Centauri. At our current maximum speed, it would take thousands of years.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_w...#ixzz23YLOo15q

[The Hammer]

I have no idea how long it would take, but it will be extremely difficult to turn a planet into a green house. The amount of plants needed to sustain the environment and Oxygen levels must be a lot too. What makes Earth so unique is that we have the right temperature, atmosphere etc... Earth is positioned in such a good place near the Sun.

Also, the gravity is too weak on Mars to hold oxygen.

But there's lots of carbon dioxide on Mars to sustain plant life.

There may be benefits from going to Mars we're not aware of yet - we'll never know until we try.

[Russian Crushin]

I don't think so.

List of stars next to us. Closest is 4.2 Light years.

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_nearest_stars

I just did a search how long it takes us to do 1 light year. I have no idea but this dude wrote:

The nearest star to earth is the sun. It will take about 8 minutes to get there at light speed.

The closest star system that we know of is Alpha Centauri, located about 4.37 light years away (41.5 trillion km). If you traveled to Alpha Centauri at light speed it would take less than a second to get there, but only from your point of view. The eye observing the trip from earth will stare your spaceship for 4.37 years until you arrive. That is relativity

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Twin_paradox
4.37 years not counting acceleration and deceleration however since light speed is impossible lets put this into perspective:
at 75 mph it would take 38 million years
at 1350 mph (mach 2) 2 million years
at 40,000 mph (voyager speed) 70,000 years
That depends on how fast you're going. Assuming we can achieve the speed of light, it would take us a little over 4 years and 2 months to reach Proxima Centauri. At our current maximum speed, it would take thousands of years.

Read more: http://wiki.answers.com/Q/How_long_w...#ixzz23YLOo15q

A light year is the amount of distance light travels in 1 year. So if we built a ship that traveled at the speed of light, it would take 4.37 earth years to get there.

But light travels at the fastest possible speed known, which we cannot even come remotely close to

[THE REED]

SO basically it would take a little while...