• Question: could you fly to Pluto and back and SURVIE!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

    Asked by Anon to Rochelle, Michaela, Camilla, Beth, Adrian on 26 Jan 2016.
    • Photo: Camilla Weiss

      Camilla Weiss answered on 26 Jan 2016:


      At its closest Pluto is 4.4 billion km away from Earth. Travelling at the speed of light the trip would take about 4.5 hours but sadly we humans can’t travel that fast. With our current technology you’d probably be facing a journey lasting at least 10 years just to get there, which is a loooong time to spend in space. I don’t think anyone could physically or even psychologically survive a 20 year trip through space. Maybe one day our propulsion technology will improve to allow us to travel faster and cover these large distances but it won’t be for a while I’m afraid.

    • Photo: Adrianos Golemis

      Adrianos Golemis answered on 26 Jan 2016:


      Hm, with today’s technology it would be tricky. You would need a ship with great room for fuel and food provisions. But the real challenge would be how to survive all those years in transit, because in space you are exposed to radiation from the sun and from distant supernova stars. It is OK to withstand this for a few months, but for a trip so long as to go to Pluto, the dosage could be lethal. Hopefully one day we will develop the tech to do it, though.

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