Wednesday, 2 September 2009

space - What would happen if a rocket traveling at speed of light would collide with a planet (like earth)?

Let's assume it is possible for a spacecraft to travel at the speed of light (I've read the interstellar book by Kip Thorne, apparently this is theoretically possible if you swing around two black holes)



I have watched the video where the traveling of a light particle is simulated and while planets are certainly big enough so you can adjust your route, what would happen if a rocket (or spaceship in general) would collide with an earth-like planet (i.e. a planet having a massive surface). Would we burst through the whole planet, make it only to a core, or just a few km? I know what happens when a meteor lands, but obviously they aren't traveling at the speed of light.



And one similar another question - when a spaceship is traveling at the speed of light, is there a problem with collision with smaller objects? I think you can't avoid millions of rockets in outer space, it would surely damage the spaceship, wouldn't it?

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