Scientists estimate that the galaxy can be completely populated without warp drives
Back in 1964, the famous Soviet astronomer N. Kardashev put forward his own rather original method of measuring the technological development of civilizations. This method is based on how much energy is being used by a civilization.
So, according to Kardashev, there are three types of civilizations:
- The first type civilization uses absolutely all the energy potential of its home planet.
- A civilization of the second type is already using the full potential of its native luminary.
- A civilization of the third type uses the entire energy potential of the galaxy.
So, according to the opinion of another famous astrophysicist and popularizer of science K. Sagana, alien civilizations may well create whole waves of colonization. But in order to reach the level of civilization of the third type, it will take just an incredible amount of time.
That's just in a new study that was published in American Astronomical Society, it is said that this is far from the case.
As stated in the published material, our civilization systematically pushes the boundaries possible and so far there is no reason for this development process to stop in the near time.
Therefore, the assumption was made that all possible developed civilizations, one way or another, will strive to master all corners of the galaxy and colonize all available planets on their way.
The starting point for the new study was the expansion model developed in 2019, in which scientists put forward the assumption that even ships with with a sufficiently slow advance (just what our engineers are doing now) are able to populate the galaxy in a much shorter time interval.
So, according to the conservative approach used in modeling, it was assumed that the so-called immigration ships, launched every 10,000 years, would be capable of overcome a maximum of 3 parsecs and their maximum speed will be 10 km / s, which is quite comparable to the speeds with which space probes of the Voyager type, as well as New Horizons ".
So, as the authors of the scientific work claim, even at such speeds and rather conservative input data, it will be quite enough to completely populate the galaxy in 1 billion years.
The created model shows how even a single technogenic civilization living in a galaxy like our Milky Way starts the process of galactic expansion.
In the above video sequence, you will see how the colonization process could take place in the galaxy. At the same time, the gray dots are already completely mastered stars, and the white bursts are ships with settlers.
Of course, things start out extremely slowly, but the rate of population increases rapidly when the force of exponential growth is brought into play.
In this case, the rate of dispersal will also be strongly influenced by the ever increasing density of stars closer to the center of the galaxy and exposure, at which settlers wait until the stars themselves approach them during the natural rotation of the galaxy around its own center masses.
That is, scientists in their simulation are not talking about the so-called aggressive variant of settlement, and in the model there are no hypothetical warp drives or an even more fantastic way to instantly move around the universe.
And we are talking about ships that, even with our current development of technology, it is quite possible to build and send into space.
Of course, the time period of one billion years seems simply enormous, but if we look at the age of our galaxy, then a billion is only 7-9% of the total age. This means that such colonization could have already occurred more than once.
Well, only our very distant ancestors will know whether humanity will colonize the entire galaxy. Well, if you liked the material, then rate it and do not forget to subscribe to the channel.
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