We humans do not protect our home planet. And we will probably behave in the same way in space. Below we list twelve ways in which a person, unwittingly, can cause serious damage to the solar system.
It's only the beginning…
1) Catastrophe at the particle accelerator
If any exotic forms of matter accidentally fly out of such an accelerator, then mankind runs the risk of destroying the entire solar system.
Even before the construction of the Large Hadron Collider (LHC) began, some scientists feared that as a result of the collision of charged particles created using a high-energy accelerator, all sorts of unpleasant things could arise, such as vacuum bubbles, magnetic monopoles, microscopic black holes and stranglets (ie, "strange matter" - a hypothetical form of matter, which is similar to ordinary, but consists of heavy strange quarks). However, the scientific community rejected these stories, condemning them with the words "nonsense" and speculation, which are spread by "non-professionals in pursuit of a sensation or for the sake of self-promotion." Moreover, as shown in a 2011 report published by the LHC Safety Assessment Group, particle collisions pose no threat.
Anders Sandberg, researcher at the Future of Humanity Institute at Oxford University (a division of the Oxford Martin School), while agreeing that a particle accelerator catastrophe is unlikely, at the same time warns: if stranglets are somehow all will appear, then "it will be bad." Here is what the scientist writes on the website io9.com: “If the substance of a planet like Mars turns into 'strange' matter, then at the same time part of the rest mass will be released in the form of radiation (and stranglets scattering in different directions). Assuming that the transformation will take hour and at the same time 0.1% will be released in the form of radiation, the luminosity will be 1.59 * 10 ^ 34 W, which will exceed the luminosity of the Sun by almost 42 million times, moreover, most of it will be hard gamma radiation.
Reassuring readers: of course, the LHC is not capable of producing strange matter. However, it is quite possible that this may happen in the future during some experiment on Earth or in space. One hypothesis is that strange matter exists under high pressure inside neutron stars. If such conditions can be artificially created, then the end will come very soon.
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2) The stellar engineering project did not go according to plan
Humanity could destroy the solar system by seriously damaging or altering the Sun in a so-called "stellar engineering" project or disrupting planetary dynamics.
Some futurists predict that in the future humanity (or our more advanced descendants - "posthumanity") will be able to carry out any number of "stellar engineering" projects, including even the transition to a "stellar economy". In his Interstellar Migration and the Human Experience, David Criswell of the University of Houston described the “stellar economy” as an attempt to influence the evolution and properties of stars, including extending their lifespan, extracting raw materials, and generating new and new stars. In order for a star to burn less intensely and, therefore, to work longer, the "stellar engineers" of the future will have to remove the excess mass of the star (the larger the star, the faster it burns).
Still, the likelihood of a catastrophe is great. Stellar engineering can lead to the most unpredictable consequences and provoke a cascade of uncontrollable reactions. For example, as a result of an artificial decrease in the mass of the Sun on its surface, anomalous and terrifying in their strength flares may occur, or, conversely, the luminosity of our Sun will decrease, creating a threat to life on Earth. In addition, planetary orbits can change significantly.
3) Unsuccessful attempt to turn the planet Jupiter into a star
Some believe that it would be nice to turn Jupiter into an artificial star. But an attempt to bring such a project to life may end in failure and destroy not only Jupiter, but at the same time life on Earth.
In the pages of the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society, astrophysicist Martin Fogg proposed the following: make a star out of Jupiter so that over time its four largest moons could become habitable. To this end, in the distant future, humanity must plunge a small black hole into the bowels of Jupiter, and calculate its parameters so accurately so as not to go beyond the Eddington limit (the point of balance between the external force of radiation and the internal force of gravity). According to Fogg, in this way it will be possible to obtain "enough energy to create the required temperature on the surface of its satellites (Europa and Ganymede) - the same as on the surface of the Earth and Mars, respectively."
Everything seems to be smooth. But surprises are possible. As Sandberg said in an interview with io9.com, at first everything should go fine, but the black hole can grow in size and swallow Jupiter, after which, as a result of a radioactive outbreak, life in the solar system will end. After the disappearance of all living things and the absorption of Jupiter by a black hole, real chaos will reign in the space around us.
4) Violation of the orbital dynamics of planets
As soon as we begin to change in any way the mass and trajectories of planets and other celestial bodies, we risk upsetting the fragile orbital balance in the solar system.
The orbital dynamics of our solar system are too fragile. Scientists have shown that even the slightest disturbance can lead to chaotic and even potentially dangerous orbital movements. The reason for this is that the planets of the solar system are in resonance, that is, a state in which any two periods are in a simple numerical ratio (for example, the orbital resonance of Neptune and Pluto is 3: 2, since Pluto makes two full revolutions on every three revolutions of Neptune).
It turns out that two rotating celestial bodies can influence each other, even if they are too far from each other. As a result of frequent close encounters of planets, it may suddenly turn out that the smaller celestial bodies will be destabilized and begin to descend from their orbits - and this process will take over the entire solar system!
Such chaotic resonances can happen by themselves, naturally, or we can provoke them by moving the sun and planets. How can we not remember about stellar engineering, which we talked about above. If Mars is moved to a zone suitable for life (and this can be done, say, by knocking it out of orbit with the help of an asteroid), then as a result, the orbital balance can also be disturbed. On the other hand, if humanity builds a Dyson sphere using material mined from Mercury and / or Venus, then the orbital dynamics could change in unpredictable ways. As a result, Mercury (or what is left of it) can fly out of the solar system, and the Earth will be dangerously close to some large object like Mars, and maybe collide with it.
5) Dangerous maneuvering of the warp drive
A spaceship with a warp drive (an engine that develops superluminal speed) is, of course, tempting, but extremely dangerous.
The warp drive, known as the Alcubierre drive, will one day come and go, generating a bubble of negative energy around it. When flying a warp-powered ship, space will shrink in front of the ship and expand behind it. Due to this, the spacecraft of the future will be able to accelerate to speeds not limited by the speed of light.
Unfortunately, this energy bubble can be dangerous. Back in 2012, a group of scientists decided to simulate the destruction that a warp drive can cause. Here's what Universe Today's Jason Major has to say about the matter:
“Space is not just a void between points A and B … it contains many particles that have mass (and which do not). A group of scientists … concluded that these particles can "fly" over the deformation bubble and concentrate in the areas in front of and behind the spacecraft, as well as in the bubble itself.
After the warp-driven spacecraft goes into sublight flight mode, the particles it collects in the bubble will be emitted in the form of energy bursts. The brightest will be the bursts of particles in front of the ship - this will be quite enough to destroy everything along the path of the spacecraft.
“Due to the strong violet bias of the forward region particles, anyone entering the ship's path will be destroyed by gamma rays and high-energy particles,” the article says.
According to scientists, even during space flights over short distances, the released energy will be so great that it will be able to destroy everything in its path, and under the word "everything" can even be a whole planet. In addition, since the amount of this energy will depend on the length of the path, there is potentially no limit to the intensity of this energy. A spaceship flying at high speed, driven by a warp engine, will be able not only to destroy planets, but also to arrange catastrophes of even greater proportions.
6) Artificial "wormholes" catastrophe
Using spacetime tunnels (called "wormholes" or "wormholes") to overcome the limitations of interstellar travel is all well and good in theory, but we must be very careful to break the spacetime continuum.
Back in 2005, Iranian nuclear physicist Mohammad Mansuryar proposed a way to create such a wormhole. According to the scientist, having produced a sufficient amount of exotic matter we need, we could make a tunnel in the cosmological fabric of space-time - the path through this tunnel will be the shortest for the spacecraft.
Mansuryar's article somehow obscures the negative consequences of this approach, but Anders Sandberg told about them on io9.com:
"Firstly, to create a wormhole throat requires mass-energy (possibly negative) on the scale of a black hole of the same size. Secondly, when creating" time loops "there is a possibility that virtual particles will become real, in as a result, the flows of such particles will destroy this "wormhole." then it will be possible to "pump out" the Sun and / or burn out the entire solar system with the help of radiation."
Yes, the destruction of the Sun will not bring us anything good, and hard radiation, again, will destroy all living things in the solar system.
7) Shkadov engine and navigation error leading to disaster
If in the distant future we suddenly want to move the solar system somewhere, then we risk completely destroying it.
In 1987, the Russian physicist Leonid Shkadov proposed the concept of a megastructure - the "Shkadov engine" - which is literally capable of dragging our solar system somewhere else, for example, closer to one of the neighboring star systems. What for? To replace our aging and burning out Sun with a younger star in the distant future.
Here's how Edam Hadhazy explains how the Shkadov Engine works in Popular Mechanics:
“From a theoretical point of view, the Shkadov engine is simple: a colossal arc-shaped mirror, the concave side of which is facing the Sun. This mirror must be placed at an arbitrary distance, where the gravitational attraction from the Sun will be balanced by the light pressure of its radiation. Thus, the mirror will become a stable and static artificial satellite, located at the point of equilibrium between the gravitational force of attraction and the pressure of the solar wind.
Solar radiation will reflect from the inner surface of the curved mirror back to the Sun, thereby pushing the Sun with its own light - the reflected energy will create a small thrust. This is how the Shkadov engine works, with the help of which humanity will migrate across the galaxy.
Are unforeseen situations possible? Lots of. We can miscalculate and scatter the solar system across the universe, or even collide with another star.
An interesting problem arises here: if we can learn to move between the stars, then we must understand how to manage the many small objects located at the periphery of the solar system. We'll have to be careful. As Sandberg warns, "As a result of the destabilization of the Kuiper belt or the Oort cloud, there will be a myriad of comets that will bombard everything."
8) What if we attract the attention of evil aliens?
If supporters of the search for extraterrestrial civilizations find what they were looking for, then humanity will soon transmit messages into space and tell aliens about ourselves. And aliens, of course, have to be kind, right?
9) The return of mutated von Neumann probes
Let's say we send a fleet of self-replicating von Neumann probes into space to colonize our galaxy. Suppose they are programmed with errors, or someone intentionally creates evolving probes. Then, as a result of prolonged mutation, they can turn into hostile creatures.
Ultimately, our smart spacecraft will return to earthlings to tear the solar system to shreds, suck all resources and destroy life as such.
10) Threat from interplanetary gray goo
There is also something very similar to self-replicating space probes, but only much smaller: rapidly self-replicating nanorobots and macrobots that carry a threat with them are the so-called "gray goo" that will consume the planet's resources in an uncontrolled way in order to reproduce their own kind. And they will not be limited to one planet Earth. "Gray goo" can get on board a spacecraft, on a fragment of a planet, and even appear in space in general as part of some giant project. As soon as this "gray goo" gets out of control within the solar system, it turns everything, as they say, into a mess.
11) Rampage of artificial superintelligence (ISI)
One of the dangers in creating artificial intelligence is that it is capable of not only destroying life on planet Earth, but also spreading even further, populating the solar system and even penetrating beyond its limits.
The acuteness of the problem is well conveyed by the often-mentioned example of paper clips, in which the ISI, programmed in the wrong way, converts the entire planet into paper clips. But when it gets out of control, the ISI doesn't have to produce paper clips; perhaps he will suddenly do something different, for example, he will play computer processors uncontrollably and turn all matter on Earth into a material called "computronium". Perhaps the ISI will even develop some of its own meta-ethical principles to spread them throughout the galaxy.
12) make the solar system useless
This is what will be left of us in this case.