The Personal Website of Mark W. Dawson

Is Interstellar Travel Possible Testimony

Mr. Chairperson and distinguished Representatives, it is an honor and a privilege to testify before this committee today. Please note that I am not a scientist or engineer, but I have been deeply interested in this topic since my teenage years. I have done extensive reading and research on the topics of my testimony, and I consider myself a well-informed layperson who can communicate my knowledge to other laypersons.

Much has been said and asserted about the possibility of UFOs or UAPs being interstellar visitors. Much of it is interesting, exciting, and provocative, but there has been little or no testimony on the scientific, technological, and engineering challenges of interstellar travel. These challenges raise the question of whether interstellar travel is possible.

Thus, it is not necessary to prove or disprove that UFOs or UAPs are interstellar visitors. First, we must establish whether interstellar travel is possible; if it is not, then any attempt to conclude that UFOs or UAPs are interstellar visitors is unnecessary. In examining the possibility of interstellar travel, there are some basic scientific issues and concerns that must be addressed.

As the distinguished American physicist Brian Greene has said of the Boundaries Written into the Fabric of Reality:

“The universe is not indifferent to your ambitions; it is not neutral. It does not simply ignore the desire to cross the space between stars. It actively and mathematically and with absolute geometric precision makes it impossible. That is not a poetic exaggeration. That is a statement derived from the most precisely tested equations in the history of science.”

“The stars are.. separated from us by a barrier that is not made by distance alone. The barrier is woven into the very structure of space, time, mass, and energy. It is not an engineering problem. It is not a funding problem. It is a problem written into the mathematical foundation of physical reality itself.”

“Physics does not lie to you. It does not offer false promises. It tells you with extraordinary precision exactly what is and is not possible within the boundaries of this universe. And one of the things it tells you with the quiet certainty of an equation that has never once been proven wrong is that the distance between stars is not a challenge to be overcome. It is a boundary written into the fabric of reality itself.”

For my own part, I would say that for those who claim that some unknown science could supplement or replace our current scientific knowledge to enable interstellar travel, I would respond that this is highly unlikely. This is because our current scientific knowledge of physics has been among the most precisely tested in the history of science. While our current scientific knowledge can and will be expanded, this expansion will be insufficient to overcome the boundaries written into the fabric of reality.

I would also say that the vastness of space and the enormity of time in the universe are impossible to fully comprehend, yet must be dealt with in interstellar travel. So must the physical laws and properties of the universe, the technological challenges, and the engineering problems of interstellar travel be dealt with.

As the distinguished (and now deceased) American physicist Richard Feynman has said of the impossibility of interstellar:travel:

• The Dream of Reaching the Stars
• How Far Is the Nearest Star?
• The Speed of Light Barrier
• The Rocket Equation Problem
• Energy Requirements Beyond Imagination
• Time Dilation & Relativity
• Radiation & Interstellar Hazards
• Generation Ships & Human Limits
• Why Physics Sets the Final Boundary

The other Key Concepts that Limit Interstellar Travel are:

• The Cosmic Haystack Problem (Challenges in finding an extraterrestrial intelligence planet to visit).
• The Fermi Paradox (If aliens exist, why haven't they arrived? This may be because the probability of other intelligent life evolving within the same timeframe as human technological evolution is very low).
• The Lorenz Factor (How time, length, and other physical properties change for an object moving extremely fast).
• The Rocket Equation (How the velocity of a rocket changes as it expels propellant; rocket's mass, effective exhaust velocity, changes in velocity).
• Time Dilation (Different rates for observers in different frames of reference, which limits any chance of meeting a civilization that is still alive).

Other Technological and Engineering Problems of interstellar travel include:

• You cannot violate the Laws of Physics.
• You cannot ignore the Fundamental Properties and Constants of the Universe.
• You must account for Thermodynamics and Entropy.
• The Importance of Energy is crucial, as energy is central to all forms of science, technology, and engineering:
• The Immensity of Space and Time:
• That Which is Seen, and That Which is Unseen:

Additionally, the Physiological and Psychological Challenges (which also apply to a Moon Base and a Martian Trip) may be so taxing that they may not be surmountable.

Accordingly, interstellar travel is highly unlikely, if not impossible, and attributing UFOs and UAPs to alien spacecraft is nonsensical. Let us be inquisitive about the true nature of UFOs and UAPs and seek a scientific explanation for these phenomena. But let us not jump to conclusions that contradict our scientific, technological, and engineering knowledge. .