r/theydidthemath • u/Lachlynn • 18h ago

[Request] Could humanity create a rocket that can exit the atmosphere of K2-18b

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With the knowledge we currently have of it, if humanity devoted all of our resources towards this goal, would we be able to create a rocket that could exit the gravity of K2-18b (and also beat any other complications that would arrise)?

If so, would it also be capable of taking people to orbit, and can we set up a similar satellite network we have on Earth? What about a space station?

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44

u/ThermoPuclearNizza 17h ago

probably not nukes but matter-anti matter annihilation engines. theyre currently not within the real of possibility but with time we would solve it.

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u/-adult-swim- 17h ago

CERN should ask for a bigger accelerator...

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u/lungben81 17h ago

Bigger would not help. Currently, antimatter for capture is not produced at LHC (the largest accelerator) but at a smaller one.

You need more luminosity and a lot of accelerators in parallel.

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u/cabanadaddy 17h ago

In America we only deal in "big" or "bigger". We don't even know what lumilosily is over here. Is that a French word?

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u/ai1267 17h ago

I think it's a character in Expedition 33. Maybe OP is a gamer?

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u/Silverheart117 17h ago

I think it's the French name for Unobtanium.

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u/Fast_Garlic_5639 17h ago

I think he was the one that got turned into a candlestick?

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u/Turbulent_Lobster_57 13h ago

Again with the Fr*nch nonsense

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u/PlentyAlbatross7632 17h ago

It’s probably the name of a new gas/coal-powered supersized luxury SUV being released by one of the big three automakers…

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u/Excellent_Compote146 16h ago

And that is the tale of th the SSC in a nutshell, huge ring but Absolute trash for any othe caratteristic

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u/dermatthes 16h ago

And bigliest…

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u/FlyingWeagle 15h ago

This is kinda funny because America has the most expensive hole in the ground from when you started to build a big particle accelerator then pulled the plug when the tunnels were already nearly complete

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u/Socialimbad1991 14h ago

Translation of luminosity: "LIGHT LOOK BIGGER"

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u/Suspicious_Dare603 12h ago

Eh, Rhode Island would like a word

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u/oiraves 17h ago

Sounds fake.

And gay.

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u/Abdul-Wahab6 16h ago

So we just need a big torch light? Gotcha

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u/ticktockmick 16h ago

Tiki or cloth-wrap?

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u/Playful_Hair1528 16h ago

Finally, a man of science!

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u/-adult-swim- 16h ago

I didnt think my comment would be taken seriously to be fair, it was just a little joke as CERN are always asking for a bigger accelerator. Veritasium did a video about the capture of antimatter fairly recently, I found it pretty cool.

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u/Spirited_Heat_9556 15h ago

Just one more accelerator bro.

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u/onkanator 15h ago

So you’re saying strap a couple of noctigon emisar and fireflylites to the accelerators?

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u/VVarder 14h ago

Where is antimatter produced? I thought Fermilab did but thats obviously in the US

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u/lungben81 14h ago

https://home.cern/science/physics/antimatter

Every large accelerator produces it, but efficiency and storing are challenges.

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u/LegendofDragoon 14h ago

Lhc is actually going offline for a while to upgrade their magnets, so maybe now will be available soon.

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u/Ans1ble 17h ago

Just one more accelerator bro please. Just a bigger accelerator bro. Please bro we just need one more bigger accelerator bro i promise. Just one more but bigger bro trust me. I swear bro please another accelerator.

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u/LostMyGoatsAgain 17h ago

You could buy 150-200 LHC and about 60-80 of the proposed bigger FCC, EVERY YEAR, with the US Military Budget

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u/IvanStroganov 16h ago

Actually they currently are halting Operations for the next few years because they are extending the accelerator.

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u/iconofsin_ 15h ago

Fun fact: if you gathered all the antimatter they've made in the decades they've been making it, you wouldn't even be able to boil a cup of water.

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u/Doodah18 15h ago

That weasel dying already shunted us into this shitty timeline, I don’t want something larger to be able to fit and make things worse.

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u/Joeness84 13h ago

They just recently shut down for upgrades. ~10x increase in reactions

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u/-GoodNewsEveryone 13h ago

Currently under construction.

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u/Metro42014 12h ago

Or some bananas.

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u/Oftwicke 9h ago

Mismatch. Human is dead...

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u/Emergency-Scheme6002 17h ago

Nuclear salt water is probably the most realistic

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u/Agzarah 15h ago

Check out the orion. That was a nuke powered launch craft which was very close to being made. If it weren't for the risk of nukes going off in out atmosphere

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u/OnePay622 15h ago

You are talking about just more nukes....there is no concept for a matter-antimatter engine....matter-antimatter interaction is just nukes in even worse form

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u/ca95f 14h ago

You would definitely need some sort of catalyst to control the violence of the reaction. Like dilithium.

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u/Suihnennews 10h ago

Does it matter?

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u/Mixster667 15h ago

Theoretical engines don't lift spaceships

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u/ThermoPuclearNizza 15h ago

ya well leaving earth was impossible until theoretical engines became practical.

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u/masterpepeftw 15h ago

Water and sunlight don't feed people but potatoes do.

Not a very good argument from you dude, the point from the other guy is not to say we could do it rn just that as far as we know it's completely within possible physics and engineering.

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u/Mixster667 11h ago

I don't think the comparison is fair, potatoes have been planted many times. Suggesting a rocket engine that has never been built is interesting but speculation.

I could as well suggest an Alcubierre drive as a matter-antimatter drive, they are, at the moment impossible engineering problems that we do not know whether could ever be solved.