Can dark matter be used for space travel?

Dark matter makes up 80\% of all ‘stuff’ in the universe – and is believed to hold the key to interstellar travel, scientists say. Harnessing the weird material will be able to power spaceships at speeds close to the speed of light, according to a new study at the University of Groningen in Holland.

What would happen if you were exposed to dark matter?

The nuclear forces that hold your nuclei and protons together would vanish; the electromagnetic forces that caused atoms and molecules to stay together (and light to interact with you) would disappear; your cells and organs and entire body would cease to hold together.

Can you create dark matter?

Several scientific groups, including one at CERN’s Large Hadron Collider, are currently working to generate dark matter particles for study in the lab. Other scientists think the effects of dark matter could be explained by fundamentally modifying our theories of gravity.

Do we have dark matter on Earth?

It turns out that roughly 68\% of the universe is dark energy. Dark matter makes up about 27\%. The rest – everything on Earth, everything ever observed with all of our instruments, all normal matter – adds up to less than 5\% of the universe.

What would happen if an astronaut fell into a black hole?

If an astronaut fell into a black hole, they wouldn’t have a peaceful ride. They’d be stretched out like a noodle. Sorry, science fiction fans. You can’t actually survive a trip through a black hole.

Why can’t you dive into a black hole?

To fully appreciate why you can’t just swan dive or pilot your spaceship into a black hole, you must first understand the basic properties of these gravitational goliaths. Simply put, a black hole is a place where gravity is so strong that no light — or anything else, for that matter — can escape.

What happens when a star wanders too close to a black hole?

Astronomers witnessed such a “tidal disruption event” back in 2014, when several space telescopes caught a star wander too close to a black hole. The star was stretched out and shredded, causing some of the material to fall beyond the event horizon, while the rest was flung back out into space.