If 0.3% of the budget is a lot then the answer is yes. NASAs entire budget since it's inception is less than the bank bail out of 2008.

The speed of sound is not a particularly difficult achievement as far as physics is concerned.

The speed of light, or even coming very close to it if you want to think about relativistic travel, is an extremely daunting physics challenge, and comes very close to "pretty much impossible".

the human race needs to birth some more Isaac newtons so we can develop light speed travel. Oh I came up with physics but I need a type of math to make it work, k cool just invented calculus.

the article gives the analogy of if you go into an office building with a walkie talkie you won't hear anything because everyone is using cell phones and texting

Sorry, I meant light.

And of course it seems "pretty much impossible" today. We thought black holes were a myth 50 years ago. Convinced the world was flat 400 years ago. etc. etc.

I think that's a different problem. I guess I'm assuming that the communication problem is solved (by us or the gigantic wolf spiders that kill everything).

yeah I like to think of the predator aliens as the bugs from starship troopers

It's because reality is a computer simulation and "extraterrestrial" intelligence wasn't called for in the programming.

At this point, the only possibility I'm conceding is a warp drive. And even that requires some exotic materials that probably do not exist. The laws of physics are pretty clear that matter can not travel at the speed of light, even a single atom using nearly infinite energy. The only way around it is to cheat by moving at a normal speed through warped space.

The answer lies in the other 90% of our brains that we aren't using.

Great article. The one on time was a great read as well.

Doesn't NASA only get like half of a penny on the dollar of the overall budget? Half of one percent does not seem like a pretty nice share compared to how much other wasteful spending is out there (I promise you that I'm not trying to be political).

We are talking about a civilization who has only had automobiles for 100 years, and even we have some understanding of how the gigantic hurdle of those vast distances can be circumvented.

Here's what will happen when space travelers come to Earth
<iframe width="640" height="360" src="//www.youtube.com/embed/NIufLRpJYnI?feature=player_detailpage" frameborder="0" allowfullscreen></iframe>

It would have to be this or a worm hole.
If we were to travel at anywhere near the speed of light, by the time you returned from a 5 year mission, 100 years would have lapsed and everyone you know would be dead.