We humans are doing a bash - up problem of messing up our habitation planet . But who ’s to say we ca n’t go on to screw affair up elsewhere ? Here , not listed in any peculiar order , are 12 unintentional way we could do some serious damage to our Solar System , too .
Wild speculation ahead …
1) A Particle Accelerator Disaster
By accidentally unleash exotic form of thing from molecule accelerators , we execute the jeopardy of decimate the intact solar system .
Prior to the construction of CERN ’s Large Hadron Collider , some scientists worry that hit produce by the highly up-and-coming accelerator might spawn such nasties like vacuum bubbles , magnetic monopoles , microscopic black fix , or strangelets ( a.k.a . “ strange subject ” — a supposititious phase of topic interchangeable to conventional nuclei , but also containing many of the grievous strange quarks ) . Theseconcerns were condemnedby the scientific community as “ rubbish ” and nothing more than rumors spread by “ unqualified the great unwashed seeking sensation or publicity . ” Moreover , a 2011 report issue by the LHC Safety Assessment Groupconcluded that the collision presented no peril .
Anders Sandberg , a research chap who knead out ofOxford University ’s Future of Humanity Institute , a part of theOxford Martin School , correspond that a particle accelerator calamity is unlikely , but admonish that if strangelets were to be somehow unleashed , “ it would be bad . ” As he explained to io9 :
http://www.oxfordmartin.ox.ac.uk/
convert even a planet like Mars to strange issue would release a fraction of the relaxation stack as radiation syndrome ( plus perhaps splatter strangelets ) . take a rebirth act on a 60 minutes timescale and issue just 0.1 % as actinotherapy gives a mean luminosity of 1.59 * 10 ^ 34 W , or about 42 million times the sun . Most of which would be severe da Gamma rays .
Ouch . Obviously , the LHC is incapable of producing strange thing , but perhaps some future experiment , either on Earth orin outer space , could produce the hooey . It ’s theorize , for example , that strange matter exists at gamey pressure inside neutron star . Should we artificially create those condition , it could end the show rattling quick . ( Image citation : The Core . )
2) A Stellar Engineering Project Gone Horribly Wrong
We could also wrack the Solar System by severely prejudicious or change the Sun during a star technology undertaking , or by screwing up planetary kinetics in the process .
Some futurists mull over that next humans ( or our posthuman descendent ) may choose to enter upon any number of stellar applied science projects , include leading agriculture . Writing inInterstellar Migration and the Human Experience , David Criswell from the University of Houston described stellar husbandry as the effort to see the evolution and property of stars , admit attempts to prolong their lifespans , draw out material , or create new stars . To make a star burn less rapidly , and thus last longer , succeeding stellar engineers would work to remove its excess mass ( big stars expend fuel faster ) .
But the potency for a catastrophe is significant . Like program to engage in geoengineering projects here on Earth , starring engineering projects could leave in any number of unforeseen result , or stir up uncontrollable cascade event . For example , efforts to remove the Sun ’s mass could create flakey and dangerous flaring effect , or result in a life - endanger reduction in luminosity . It could also have a marked effect on planetary orbits . ( Image credit : NASA / JPL - Caltech / GSFC )
3) A Failed Attempt to Stellify Jupiter
Some thought has been given to the chance of turning Jupiter into a kind of artificial star . But in the attempt to do so , we could ruin Jupiter itself and wipe out spirit on Earth .
Writing in the Journal of the British Interplanetary Society , astrophysicist Martyn Fogg proposed that westellify Jupiter as a first stair to terraforming the Galilaean satellites . To do so , future mankind would seed Jupiter with a tiny primaeval bootleg hole . The bleak hole would have to engineered perfectly so that it not strike outside the bounds of the Eddington limit ( an equipoise stop between the outward-bound force of radiation and the inward violence of gravity ) . According to Fogg , this would produce “ vitality sufficient to create in effect temperatures on Europa and Ganymede that would be similar to the values on Earth and Mars , severally . ”
Lovely , except for what would chance if things go askew . As Sandberg told io9 , it would work fine at first — but the black hole could arise and finally absorb Jupiter in a fit of radiation that would sterilize the entire Solar System . With life extinguished and Jupiter sucked up into a black cakehole , our neighborhood would be a complete mess .
4) Screwing Up the Orbital Dynamics of the Planets
Should we bulge to mickle around with the location and great deal of planets or other ethereal body , we extend the risk of knock over the Solar System ’s delicate orbital balance wheel .
The orbital dynamics in our Solar System is surprisingly fragile . It has been judge than even the thin perturbation could leave in chaotic and even potentially severe orbital motions . The reason for this is thatplanets are subject to resonances , which is what chance when any two periods usurp a simple numerical ratio ( e.g. , Neptune and Pluto are in a 3:2 orbital reverberance , as Pluto completes two orbits for every three orbits of Neptune ) .
The result is that two orbiting bodies can influence each other even when they ’re quite remote . unconstipated skinny encounters can result in the humble object getting destabilise and net the right way out of its original sphere — and even the Solar System all told !
look to the time to come , such chaotic resonances could bechance naturally , or we could instigate them by fidgeting around with the Sun and planet . As already noted , there ’s the potential for starring technology . The medical prognosis of moving Mars into the habitable zone , which could be done by dilapidate its cranial orbit with asteroids , could too upset the orbital equaliser . Alternately , ifwe build a Dyson Sphere using materialextracted from Mercury and/or Venus , we could alter orbital dynamics in a very profound and dangerous way . It could result in Mercury ( or what ’s left of it ) being discard from the Solar System , or Earth having an uncomfortably tight encounter — or even a collision — with a large object like Mars . ( Illustration : Hagai Perets . )
(5) The Reckless Maneuvering of a Warp Drive
Aspaceshipdriven bya warping drivewould be awesome , no doubt , but it would also be fabulously dangerous . Any objective , like a satellite , at the name and address point would be dependent to monolithic expenditures of vim .
Also jazz as an Alcubierre engine , a warp driveway could someday work by generating a bubble of negative vigour around it . By expanding space and time behind the ship , while squeezing space in front of it , a ship could be agitate to velocities not limited by the speed of light source .
alas , however , this energy bubble has the potency to do some serious damage . Back in 2012,a research team crunched the Book of Numbers to see what kind of equipment casualty an FTL drive of this nature could inflict . Writing in Universe Today , Jason Majorexplains :
blank is not just an empty void between spot A and point B … rather , it ’s full of particles that have pile ( as well as some that do not . ) What the inquiry team … has found is that these subatomic particle can get “ swept up ” into the warp house of cards and focused into regions before and behind the ship , as well as within the warp house of cards itself .
When the Alcubierre - push back ship decelerates from superluminal speed , the particles its bubble has gathered are bring out in energetic outbursts . In the example of onward - confront particles the outburst can be very energetic — enough to destroy anyone at the name and address right away in front of the ship .
“ Any people at the destination , ” the squad ’s paper reason out , “ would be gamma re and gamy energy particle blasted into oblivion due to the extreme blueshifts for [ forward ] region particle . ”
The investigator sum up that , even for curt journeying , the vim released is so large “ you would completely obliterate anything in front of you . ” And by anything , that could be an entire satellite . Moreover , because the amount of muscularity is dependent on the duration of the journey , there is potentially no limit to its intensity . An incoming warping ship could do considerably more damage than just bust up a planet . ( effigy : Mark Rademaker . )
6) An Artificial Wormhole Accident
Using wormholes to sidestep the constraint of interstellar space travel sounds great in theory , but we ’ll need to be extra careful when snap a hole in the space - metre continuum .
Back in 2005 , Iranian nuclear physicist Mohammad Mansouryaroutlined a schemefor creating a traversable wormhole . By produce enough sum of effective alien matter , he theorized that we could theoretically pierce a hole through the cosmological framework of blank space - metre and produce a cutoff for ballistic capsule .
Mansouryar ’s report is opaque , and it ’s not immediately clear if he ’s onto something , but as Anders Sandberg pointed out to io9 , the negative consequences could be hard :
First , wormhole throats need mass - energy ( possibly minus ) on the scale of a black hole of the same sizing . secondly , making clock time loops may cause virtual particle to become real and weaken down the wormhole in an energy cascade . in all probability speculative for the locality . And besides , ditch one end in the Sun and another elsewhere ( a laStephen Baxter ’s Ring ) , and you might drain the Sun and/or enlighten the solar organisation if it is declamatory enough .
Yes , killing the Sun is bad . And by irradiation we ’re once again talking about the complete sterilisation of the Solar System .
7) A Catastrophic Shkadov Thruster Navigational Error
Should we choose to relocate our Solar System in the far future , we start the risk of infection of destroying it completely .
In 1987 , Russian Physicist Leonid Shkadov proposed a megastructure concept , since dubbed the Shkadov Thruster , that could literally move our solar system and all that ’s within it to a neighboring star system . In the time to come , this would allow us to resist our older , conk out wiz in favor of a younger version .
write in Popular Mechanics , Adam Hadhazyexplains how it work :
The Shkadov Thruster frame-up is simple ( in theory ): It ’s just a prodigious , spark - shaped mirror , with the concave side facing the Lord’s Day . Builders would place the mirror at an arbitrary distance where gravitational attraction from the sun is balanced out by the outbound pressure of its radiation . The mirror thus becomes a stable , static artificial satellite in equipoise between gravity ’s tug and sunlight ’s push button .
Solar actinotherapy meditate off the mirror ’s internal , curved open back toward the sunlight , in effect pushing our star with its own sunshine — the reflected zip produces a flyspeck net thrust . Voilà , a Shkadov Thruster , and humanity is quick to shoot the galactic trail .
What could go incorrect , right ? intelligibly , lots . We could misestimate and spread out the Solar System to the world , or even crush flat into the other star .
Which impart up an interesting point : If we prepare the capacity to move between star , we should also be capable to figure out how to manipulate or influence the plethora of modest objects located in the outer reaches of the solar organization . We ’re definitely fit to have to careful here . As Sandberg warns , “ Ah , destabilizing the Kuiper belt or Oort swarm : whoop , we flummox zillions of comets bang into everything ! ” ( ikon credit : Steve Bowers . )
8) Attracting Evil Aliens
If theadvocates of Active SETI have their elbow room , we could soon be transmitting messages to space in the hopes of alerting aliens to our presence . You know , because all aliens must be nice . ( Image course credit : Mars Attacks . )
9) The Return of Mutated von Neumann Probes
Say we send out a fleet ofexponentially self - replicating von Neumann investigation to colonize the Galaxy . Assuming they ’re programmed very , very badly , or somebody deliberately creates an evolvable investigation , they could mutate over prison term and transform into something quite evil .
finally , our clever little place - get along equipment could come back to frequent us by ripping our Solar System to smidgin , or by suck up resource and fight valuable life story out of existence . ( Image : Babylon 5 . )
10) An Interplanetary Grey Goo Disaster
Somewhat alike to self - replicate space probes , there ’s also the potential difference for something much modest , yet equally as unsafe : exponentially reduplicate nanobots . Agrey goo disaster , where an unmanageable cloud of nanobots or macrobots consume all planetary resources to produce more copies of itself , need not be confined to planet Earth . Such a swarm could hitchhike a drive aboard an escaping starship or planetary fragment , or even originate in space as part of some megastructure project . Once unleash in the Solar System , it would apace turn everything into mush .
11) An Artificial Superintelligence Run Amok
One of the dangers of creating artificial superintelligence is that it has the potential difference to do much more than just snuffle out life on Earth ; it could spread out into the Solar System — and even potentially beyond .
Theoft - reference paperclip scenario , in which a poorly programmed ASI converts the entire planet into paper clip , convey the urgency of the problem . Should an out - of - control ASI come forth , it ’s obviously not croak to produce paperclips advert nauseam , but it could do something else , like produce an eternal supply of computer processors or turn all available matter into useable computronium . An ASI may even invent a meta - ethical imperative form it feel it must enforce across the entire Galaxy . ( Image credit : Stevebidmead / Pixabay / CC . )
12) Making the Solar System Meaningless
Which we would do by going nonextant . ( Image quotation : Udra11 / Sutterstock . )
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