Considering the Earth is spiraling around the sun at around 30 km/sec which is spiraling around the Galaxy at about 230 km/s wouldn't the fastest means of transportation be standing still as relative to the Milky way? I'm not suggesting it would get us right to where we want to be exactly, but breaks seems to be where we want to be as far as space exploration. Where would that lead us to-date?
You might want to read up on reference frames and relativity.
Or put another way, what would you use to brake? A brake grips on something that is moving with a different velocity to reduce the relative velocity. In the vicinity of the Sun, the moving things are the sun, planets and asteroids, and we've already gotten pretty good at using them to move our craft using orbital mechanics, gravity assists, aerobrakes and so on. There is no ether, nothing moving along 'at rest' relative to the Milky Way, that we can interact with in any way other than gravity, which is dwarfed by the gravity of the Sun.
Hmm.. If we managed to develop a technology which interacts strongly with a presumed dispersed background of dark matter, would that act as "space brakes"? Dark matter is generally thought not to "clump", due to not interacting with itself or anything else, so generally doesn't fall into orbits easily (because that requires collisional/other energy exchanges).
Hazard warning for experimenters: Don't stand to the west of your testbed.
Hmm.. If we managed to develop a technology which interacts strongly with a presumed dispersed background of dark matter, would that act as "space brakes"? Dark matter is generally thought not to "clump", due to not interacting with itself or anything else, so generally doesn't fall into orbits easily (because that requires collisional/other energy exchanges).
Hazard warning for experimenters: Don't stand to the west of your testbed.
Actually, Dark Matter
does "clump," we know of its existence primarily from its gravitational effects.
Considering the Earth is spiraling around the sun at around 30 km/sec which is spiraling around the Galaxy at about 230 km/s wouldn't the fastest means of transportation be standing still as relative to the Milky way? I'm not suggesting it would get us right to where we want to be exactly, but breaks seems to be where we want to be as far as space exploration. Where would that lead us to-date?
Braking still takes energy. Spacecraft that go to Mercury and near the sun have to "brake" to "fall" closer to them. The "braking" is performed by rocket propulsion.
Considering the Earth is spiraling around the sun at around 30 km/sec which is spiraling around the Galaxy at about 230 km/s wouldn't the fastest means of transportation be standing still as relative to the Milky way? I'm not suggesting it would get us right to where we want to be exactly, but breaks seems to be where we want to be as far as space exploration. Where would that lead us to-date?
Braking still takes energy. Spacecraft that go to Mercury and near the sun have to "brake" to "fall" closer to them. The "braking" is performed by rocket propulsion.
or flybys in numerous cases for messenger.
Considering the Earth is spiraling around the sun at around 30 km/sec which is spiraling around the Galaxy at about 230 km/s wouldn't the fastest means of transportation be standing still as relative to the Milky way? I'm not suggesting it would get us right to where we want to be exactly, but breaks seems to be where we want to be as far as space exploration. Where would that lead us to-date?
There is a way to do this. The interstellar plasma has a certain speed with respect to the Sun, or rather the Sun is moving through the local interstellar medium with a speed of 25km/s. Likewise, the solar wind (in our solar system) is actually moving much faster than that, up to 750km/s (but usually more like 400km/s).
Using a magsail or an e-sail, you can interact with this diffuse plasma, "braking" against it.
This is especially useful in interstellar travel, as it is much more effective the higher your speed and gives you the ability to slow down as you approach your destination without using any propellant. This makes interstellar travel (normally absurdly impractical) slightly less absurdly impractical.
No new physics required, although it would indeed help if we had a better map of the local interstellar medium (density, velocity, etc). So this belongs more in the "Advanced Concepts" section than the "New Physics" section.
Hmm.. If we managed to develop a technology which interacts strongly with a presumed dispersed background of dark matter, would that act as "space brakes"? Dark matter is generally thought not to "clump", due to not interacting with itself or anything else, so generally doesn't fall into orbits easily (because that requires collisional/other energy exchanges).
Hazard warning for experimenters: Don't stand to the west of your testbed.
It does (as much as we know it exists) interact, but generally only Gravitationaly or weakly (weak nuclear force) - It's "dark" matter because it does not interact electromagnetically (through light/photons)