Would we be able to convert a whole planet into a spaceship ? sometime in the far future?
By saying a whole planet, i mean an actual planet, spherical in shape .. not a humongous spaceship which houses everyone on a planet ....
By saying a whole planet, i mean an actual planet, spherical in shape .. not a humongous spaceship which houses everyone on a planet ....
garysmith
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That s a bit like asking, "Could we turn an island into a big boat?" In principle, you could but it would be really hard and then it just wouldn t make a very good boat.
Moving a planet would take a LOT of energy, and once you move it, you lose out on few things you d otherwise take for granted. Like the warmth of a sun. If we could move a planet, it would probably only be a one time deal - move it to a more hospitable orbit.
Paula
No. A planet sized spaceship would require a planet sized propulsion unit.
But a small asteroid could very well be converted into a spaceship.
An asteroid 100 to 200 meters across.
Could be hollowed out.
The interior would provide shielding from cosmic rays - and from collisions by smaller asteroids.
Such a spaceship would provide living space on very long voyages to other star systems.
Something for the distant future I think.
Callum
The planet already is a spaceship. It is accelerating around the solar system as we speak :)
duke_of_urls
The closest idea to that is the science fiction book Cities in Flight by James Blish. The spindizzy field! :-)
Ray;mond
While there is a slight probability, that seems very impractical in the unusual meaning of space ship. We could argue that Earth has been a space ship for 4.6 billion years.