Astro 115 Ch13

Which of the following is a difficulty associated with interstellar travel?

• all three are difficulties

• the speed of light being the fastest possible speed we can travel

• the enormous amount of energy required to accelerate any ship to high speed

• the huge distances between the stars

Traveling at their current speeds, how long would it take the Pioneer and Voyager probes to travel the distance to the nearest stars?

• at least 100,000 years

• several billion years

• around 4.4 years

• about a 1,000 years

The Pioneer probes carry what kind of physical time capsule?

• a small engraved plaque

• a gold-plated record containing pictures, multilingual greetings and music

• a DVD containing pictures

• these probes do not carry a physical time capsule

The Voyager probes carry what kind of physical time capsule?

• a small engraved plaque

• a gold-plated record containing pictures, multilingual greetings and music

• a DVD containing pictures

• these probes do not carry a physical time capsule

The New Horizons probe carries what kind of physical time capsule?

• a small engraved plaque

• a gold-plated record containing pictures, multilingual greetings and music

• a DVD containing pictures

• this probe does not carry a physical time capsule but a message will eventually be uploaded to its computers

What was the main difference between the time capsules carried on the Pioneer probes and the time capsules carried on the Voyager probes?

• no difference, the time capsules were identical

• the time capsule on Voyager contained a record with video and audio messages

• the time capsule on Pioneer contained a record with video and audio messages

• the time capsule on Voyager contained video, but no audio

The cosmic speed limit, the speed of light is established by

• Newton's Laws of Motion

• Einstein's General Theory of Relativity

• Einstein's Special Theory of Relativity

• Kepler's Laws of Planetary Motion

The energy required to accelerate an interstellar spaceship depends on

• its mass only

• its final velocity only

• the type of fuel it uses

• its mass and final velocity

The energy required to accelerate a ship the mass of an ocean liner to a cruising speed of 10% of the speed of light is approximately

• one million times the Earth's current annual energy usage

• one hundred times the Earth's current annual energy usage

• equal to the Earth's current annual energy usage

• ten times the Earth's current annual energy usage

The rocket equation describes how a vehicle's final speed depends on

• its mass

• the propellant's velocity

• the type of the fuel used

• its aerodynamic shape