Interstellar Travel May Be Possible Without Spaceships in Future, Here's How

The author explained four scenarios where rogue planets can be used for interstellar travel.

Advertisement
By Edited by Gadgets 360 Newsdesk | Updated: 1 June 2022 18:25 IST
Interstellar Travel May Be Possible Without Spaceships in Future, Here's How

Rogue planets are capable of providing constant surface gravity, space and resources

Photo Credit: NASA/JPL-Caltech

What will happen in next 5 billion years, when the Sun turns into a red giant and consumes Earth? Scientists have been grappling with this question for a long time. Will this event cause the extinction of the human race from the universe? Or is there a way to save the species from this apocalypse? Interstellar travel to a suitable planet that can be the next home for humans is a hypothetical way to save humankind. But, is it possible in reality? Even if we find such a planet, travelling via spaceships would take us hundreds and thousands of years to reach it.

This means that it would take humans several generations to find a new home. However, a recent research paper suggests that interstellar travel may be possible even without spaceships.

A new research paper published in the International Journal of Astrobiology says that extra-terrestrial civilisations may not need spaceships to travel to another star system.

Author Irina Romanovskaya, a Professor of Physics and Astronomy at Houston Community College, wrote in the paper that according to her theory, extra-terrestrial and alien civilisations could employ free-floating planets as interstellar transportation to visit, explore, and colonise planetary systems. These free-floating planets are also known as rogue planets.

Advertisement

Romanovskaya added that she proposes hypothetical extra-terrestrial civilizations' technosignatures and artefacts for interstellar migration and colonisation using free-floating planets, as well as ways for tracking down their technosignatures and artefacts.

According to the author, rogue planets are capable of providing constant surface gravity, and large amounts of space and resources.

Advertisement

In 2021, researchers discovered 70 to 170 rogue planets in one region of the Milky Way. In 2020, a study suggested the presence of as many as 50 billion rogue planets in our galaxy.

The author explained four scenarios where rogue planets can be used for interstellar travel. However, she noted that “free-floating planets may not serve as a permanent means of escape from existential threats.”

Advertisement

The first scenario concerns a rogue planet passing close to an extra-terrestrial civilisation's home world. The frequency with which this occurs is determined by the number of rogue planets in general.

In the second scenario, technology is used to guide a rogue planet closer to a civilisation's home. They could choose an object from their own Oort Cloud – if they have one – and employ a propulsion system to send it towards a safe orbit around their planet if they had enough technology.

The third scenario is very similar to the second. It also involves a body from the civilisation's solar system's farthest reaches. Romanovskaya cites our solar system's minor planet Sedna as an example.

The fourth scenario also includes Sedna-like objects. When a star departs from the main sequence and expands, a critical distance is reached beyond which objects are ejected from the system rather than remaining gravitationally linked to the dying star.

The rogue planet isn't a permanent residence in any of these circumstances, it's merely a lifeboat.


Are affordable smartwatches worth it? We discuss this on Orbital, the Gadgets 360 podcast. Orbital is available on Spotify, Gaana, JioSaavn, Google Podcasts, Apple Podcasts, Amazon Music and wherever you get your podcasts.
Affiliate links may be automatically generated - see our ethics statement for details.
 

For the latest tech news and reviews, follow Gadgets 360 on X, Facebook, WhatsApp, Threads and Google News. For the latest videos on gadgets and tech, subscribe to our YouTube channel. If you want to know everything about top influencers, follow our in-house Who'sThat360 on Instagram and YouTube.

Advertisement

Related Stories

Popular Mobile Brands
  1. Tecno Pova 7 5G, Pova 7 Pro 5G Launched in India: Price, Availability
  2. Here's How Much the Vivo X Fold 5 and Vivo X200 FE Might Cost in India
  3. The Good Wife OTT Release Date: When and Where to Watch it Online?
  4. OTT Releases This Week: Kaalidhar Laapata, Thug Life, The Good Wife, and More
  5. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7 Hands-On Images Suggest It Might Sport This Design
  1. Mivi AI Buds TWS Earphones Launched in India With In-Built AI Assistant
  2. Samsung Galaxy Z Fold 7, Galaxy Z Flip 7 First-Party Cases and Screen Protectors Leaked: See Colours
  3. Nvidia Briefly on Track to Become World's Most Valuable Company Ever
  4. iQOO 13 Green Colour Variant Launched in India: Check Price, Availability
  5. Meta Poaches CEO of Ilya Sutskever's Startup in AI Talent War
  6. Google's AI Overviews Hit by EU Antitrust Complaint From Independent Publishers
  7. Baidu’s MuseStreamer AI Video Generation Model Takes on Google’s Veo 3 With Native Audio Support: Report
  8. Chinese Sales of Foreign Phone Makers, Including Apple's iPhone, Drop 9.7 Percent in May
  9. Huawei Watch Fit 4, Watch Fit 4 Pro Launched in India With In-Built GPS, Up to 10 Days of Battery Life
  10. YouTube to Revise Monetisation Policy to Target Mass-Produced and Repetitive Content
Gadgets 360 is available in
Download Our Apps
Available in Hindi
© Copyright Red Pixels Ventures Limited 2025. All rights reserved.