Theoretically, do we have enough earthly resources to find life elsewhere in the universe?

Question

Do we have enough metal, plastics, fuel, or manpower to reach another life inhabited planet? The question ends there, wether finding extra-terrestrial life would be of any use to us is another can of worms to be opened upon another day.

Answer 1

You don't really need that much, you can use solar panel's or things like that to capture energy as it moves. So my answer is a yes.

Answer 2

Find, as in... turn over a rock and see a living squid-man?

no... not gonna happen.

It COULD happen by accident.  In fact that seems the most likely way we will find life... stumbling on it.

Let's keep listening.

Answer 3

fuel? = atoms = nuclear power = YES (global nuke ban treaties are stopping this)

metal? = its just one ship

manpower? = its not about the numbers, its about the couples having kids and raising them in space and those kids getting together, growing up and having more kids and on and on for about 10,000 years. It becomes a much larger problem than moving a bunch of people, its keeping them on track, sane, happy, and NOT over crowded, not to mention feeding them.

AND after about 3 generations of kids being born in mirco gravity, they're bodies and genes will begin to change very quickly. within 100 years, they won't even BE human anymore, just ----- space monkeys.

best bet for a mutli generational ship = a Stanford torus

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

one day one might be built, and it would have to be done in space cause of its size and weight...... doubts lay in the ability create enough energy to keep it spinning for ever to simulate gravity.......

but WHY??

what we need is faster than light travel in order for it to be a conceivable idea.

then we could just "pop" in for a visit and "pop" back to earth. TA DA

Answer 4

Theoretically...

If we built a multigenerational ship, maybe using the scooped-out interior of an asteroid, and assuming in the future that we make some leaps towards accelerating, but do not discover how to reach or exceed light speed, we might be able to do it in a few thousand years.

Answer 5

The nearest inhabitable planet is most likely so many light years away that we could never reach it alive.

We would die of old age, run out of oxygen and fuel many years before we ever arrived.

Answer 6

It's not a question of resources, it's about our level of technology. It's conceivable that we could send an unmanned probe to the nearest stars (at massive expense), but the nearest life-bearing planet is probably much further away. To all intents and purposes, it's impossible at our current technology level.

Answer 7

Not with our current technology.

The closest star is 4.2 ly away, and our fastest vehicle can achieve only about 25,000 mph. We'd need one capable of at least .9999 c to give the explorers a chance to get there alive.