quote:
Originally posted by CookieRevised
EDIT: Oh and "You can travel faster than sound in it, but not survive it." <= you can't travel faster than sound with it as they don't generate enough power/speed.
Not when they're flying level, the reason why you can't survive it is because to fly faster than the speed of sound in a propeller driven aircraft, you have togo into a dive... and after you break the sound barrier friction is greatly decreased (if not absent *I can't remember) so there was no way for the pilots to pull out of the dive.
In the movie they told of many lives that were lost trying to break the sound barrier, it was one of the few science movies that caught my attention and held interest.
quote:
Originally posted by CookieRevised
Why?
Assuming that aliens having the same notion of time as us is just as inproper. For all you know the aliens live 5000 years (note: even on earth there are lifeforms which live thousands of years). In that kind of timespan, you don't need to travel faster than light to reach a distant planet. Also, they might as well have a small civilization on board of their ship, which makes that they can travel for generations and generations...., etc...
In that same aspect, maybe we aren't simply interesting enough to even visit this dirtball called Earth. And we are simply left alone because we're way to primitive in their big black spooky eyes.
All in all, there is no reason why they must be able to travel faster than the speed of light.
You are right... I guess I just never put it into that kind of perspective.... Another way it would be possible is to get technology to put us/them (aliens) into a dormant state until near the destination.
