Hostname: page-component-76fb5796d-5g6vh Total loading time: 0 Render date: 2024-04-26T23:37:31.661Z Has data issue: false hasContentIssue false
  • English
  • Français

Spaceflight from Super-Earths is difficult

Published online by Cambridge University Press:  02 August 2018

Michael Hippke Open the ORCID record for Michael Hippke [Opens in a new window]
Michael Hippke*
Affiliation:
Sonneberg Observatory, Sternwartestr. 32, 9 6515 Sonneberg, Germany
*
Author for correspondence: Michael Hippke, E-mail: michael@jaekle.info
Get access Rights & Permissions [Opens in a new window]

Abstract

Many rocky exoplanets are heavier and larger than the Earth and have higher surface gravity. This makes space-flight on these worlds very challenging because the required fuel mass for a given payload is an exponential function of planetary surface gravity, exp(g0). We find that chemical rockets still allow for escape velocities on Super-Earths up to 10× Earth mass. More massive rocky worlds, if they exist, would require other means to leave the planet, such as nuclear propulsion. This is relevant for space colonization and the search for extraterrestrial intelligence.

Keywords

SpaceflightSETISuper-Earth
Type
Research Article
Information
International Journal of Astrobiology , Volume 18 , Issue 5 , October 2019 , pp. 393 - 395
Copyright
Copyright © Cambridge University Press 2018 

Access options

Get access to the full version of this content by using one of the access options below. (Log in options will check for institutional or personal access. Content may require purchase if you do not have access.)

References

Arnold, WH and Rice, CM (1969) Recent NERVA technology development. Journal of Spacecraft and Rockets 6, 565–569.Google Scholar
Boeing, Rocketdyne Propulsion & Power (1998) Space Shuttle Main Engine Orientation. Technical Report, June 1998, Published online: http://www.lpre.de/p_and_w/SSME/SSME_PRESENTATION.pdfGoogle Scholar
Buchhave, LA, Dressing, CD, Dumusque, X, Rice, K, Vanderburg, A, Mortier, A, Lopez-Morales, M, Lopez, E, Lundkvist, MS, Kjeldsen, H, Affer, L, Bonomo, AS, Charbonneau, D, Collier Cameron, A, Cosentino, R, Figueira, P, Fiorenzano, AFM, Harutyunyan, A, Haywood, RD, Johnson, JA, Latham, DW, Lovis, C, Malavolta, L, Mayor, M, Micela, G, Molinari, E, Motalebi, F, Nascimbeni, V, Pepe, F, Phillips, DF, Piotto, G, Pollacco, D, Queloz, D, Sasselov, D, Ségransan, D, Sozzetti, A, Udry, S and Watson, C. (2016) A 1.9 Earth Radius Rocky Planet and the Discovery of a Non-transiting Planet in the Kepler-20 System. Astronomical Journal 152, 160.Google Scholar
Caplan, ME (2015) Calculating the Potato Radius of Asteroids using the Height of Mt. Everest. ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1511.04297 [physics.ed-ph]. http://arxiv.org/abs/1511.04297Google Scholar
Chen, J and Kipping, D (2017) Probabilistic forecasting of the masses and radii of other worlds. The Astrophysical Journal 834, 17.Google Scholar
Cooper, J (2013) Bioterrorism and the Fermi paradox. International Journal of Astrobiology 12, 144–148.Google Scholar
Dorn, C, Bower, DJ and Rozel, AB (2017) Assessing the interior structure of terrestrial exoplanets with implications for habitability. ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1710.05605 [astro-ph.EP]. http://arxiv.org/abs/1710.05605Google Scholar
Drake, F (2013) Reflections on the equation. International Journal of Astrobiology 12, 173–176.Google Scholar
Dutil, Y and Dumas, S (2010) Cost analysis of space exploration for extraterrestrial civilisations. In Astrobiology Science Conference 2010: Evolution and Life: Surviving Catastrophes and Extremes on Earth and Beyond, held April 26–20, 2010 in League City, Texas. LPI Contribution No. 1538, p. 5173. https://ui.adsabs.harvard.edu/#abs/2010LPICo1538.5173D/abstractGoogle Scholar
Forgan, DH (2016) The Galactic Club, or Galactic Cliques? Exploring the limits of interstellar hegemony and the Zoo Hypothesis. ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1608.08770 [physics.pop-ph]. http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.08770Google Scholar
Forgan, DH (2017) Exoplanet transits as the foundation of an interstellar communications network. ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1707.03730 [astro-ph.IM]. http://arxiv.org/abs/1707.03730Google Scholar
Gerig, A (2012) The Doomsday argument in many worlds. ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1209.6251. http://arxiv.org/abs/1209.6251Google Scholar
Gerig, A, Olum, KD and Vilenkin, A (2013) Universal doomsday: analyzing our prospects for survival. Journal of Clinical & Anatomic Pathology 5, 013.Google Scholar
Gott, JR III (1993) Implications of the Copernican principle for our future prospects. Nature 363, 315–319.Google Scholar
Haussler, D (2016) Odds for an enlightened rather than barren future. ArXiv e-prints, arXiv:1608.05776. http://arxiv.org/abs/1608.05776Google Scholar
Heller, R and Armstrong, J (2014) Superhabitable worlds. Astrobiology 14, 50–66.Google Scholar
Leibnitz, GW (1710) Essais de théodicée. Paris: Flammarion.Google Scholar
Lingam, M (2016) Interstellar Travel and Galactic Colonization: insights from Percolation Theory and the Yule Process. Astrobiology 16, 418–426.Google Scholar
Lingam, M and Loeb, A (2018) Subsurface exolife. International Journal of Astrobiology, 1–30. doi: 10.1017/S1473550418000083.Google Scholar
Matheny, JG (2007) Reducing the risk of human extinction. Risk Analysis 27(5), 1335–1344.Google Scholar
McTier, MA and Kipping, DM (2018) Finding mountains with molehills: the detectability of exotopography. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 475, 4978–4985.Google Scholar
Plastino, AR and Muzzio, JC (1992) On the use and abuse of Newton's second law for variable mass problems. Celestial Mechanics and Dynamical Astronomy 53, 227–232.Google Scholar
Simpson, F (2016) Apocalypse now? Reviving the Doomsday argument. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 468, 2803–2815.Google Scholar
Simpson, F (2017) Bayesian evidence for the prevalence of waterworlds. Monthly Notices of the Royal Astronomical Society 468, 2803–2815.Google Scholar
Tsiolkovsky, KE (1903) Issledovanie mirovykh prostransty reaktivnymi priborami (exploration of space with rocket devices). Naootchnoye Obozreniye (Scientific Review). May, 12–13.Google Scholar
Turchin, A and Denkenberger, D (2018) Global catastrophic and existential risks communication scale. Futures. https://doi.org/10.1016/j.futures.2018.01.003Google Scholar