karn (08/11/82)
John Redford's comments about special relativity and space travel
gave me a chuckle. While the folks back home WILL be getting old and
grey, the 'true pioneers' who are 'cruising the galaxy' at a perceived
velocity of 100c will get something, too... That tenuous interstellar
hydrogen will be perceived to them as high energy (relativistic) protons!
Anyone got a solution to keep those pioneers from being 'crispy-crittured'?
You might set up a magnetic shield (like the magnetic "mirror" of fusion
reactor fame) to stop CHARGED particles, but you won't stop the starlight
that's doppler-shifted up into the x-ray or gamma-ray region!
- Steve Robinson
NYU
..!eagle!ajll11!robinson