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