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UniversalMomentum t1_j2p4opb wrote

Reply to comment by strvgglecity in Pulling together different technologies to make interstellar colonization possible by matthewgdick

Humans will just expand because they can and production will be virtually unlimited with more robotic automation.

Interstellar travel should be very possible if you just make tiny ships and then bean humans a the speed of light do the outpost you setup with your tiny laser propulsion probes.

BUT you have to stop thinking about it as sending humans in spaceships between stars because that part might never happen.

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strvgglecity t1_j2pbg29 wrote

Nothing can travel at the speed of light. As of today, that is one of the foundations of physics. The fastest theoretical speed scientists think can be achieved for micro spacecraft with light sails is about 20% the speed of light (and I've heard nothing about them being able to slow down). Transporting actual materials to build with is unlikely be a use of the astronomical energy required to move something large that fast, and the high opportunity for space debris to destroy it, again, because of the speed.

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