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posted by chromas on Tuesday April 24 2018, @06:02AM   Printer-friendly
from the \ dept.

"Super-Earth" planets are giant-size versions of Earth, and some research has suggested that they're more likely to be habitable than Earth-size worlds. But a new study reveals how difficult it would be for any aliens on these exoplanets to explore space.

To launch the equivalent of an Apollo moon mission, a rocket on a super-Earth would need to have a mass of about 440,000 tons (400,000 metric tons), due to fuel requirements, the study said. That's on the order of the mass of the Great Pyramid of Giza in Egypt.

"On more-massive planets, spaceflight would be exponentially more expensive," said study author Michael Hippke, an independent researcher affiliated with the Sonneberg Observatory in Germany. "Such civilizations would not have satellite TV, a moon mission or a Hubble Space Telescope."

https://www.space.com/40375-super-earth-exoplanets-hard-aliens-launch.html

[Also Covered By]: GIZMODO

[Paper]: Spaceflight from Super-Earths is difficult

[Related]: 10 Exoplanets That Could Host Alien Life


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  • (Score: 2) by bob_super on Tuesday April 24 2018, @11:21PM (1 child)

    by bob_super (1357) on Tuesday April 24 2018, @11:21PM (#671414)

    > Our missiles are powerful enough to lift our biggest and least healthy into space in comfort and safety.

    Sadly, most do not come with a fairing wide enough for a conference table, and the ample seats required for Mr Kim and Mr Trump.

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  • (Score: 2) by DannyB on Wednesday April 25 2018, @08:59PM

    by DannyB (5839) Subscriber Badge on Wednesday April 25 2018, @08:59PM (#671859) Journal

    The fairing on the Falcon Heavy, with that car inside, looked pretty dang spacious. [google.com]

    It looked like you could put a couple of school busses in there filled with congress.

    --
    People today are educated enough to repeat what they are taught but not to question what they are taught.