Re:Speculoos-2c: A new potentially habitable earth
by layer8 on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @10:16AM
(#32750939)
Not necessarily, if we could reach significant fractions of light speed. The subjective travel time can be shorter than 100 years, and approaches zero as you approach the speed of light. (Photons don’t experience time, so to speak, they are everywhere on their trajectory at once.)
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Re:Speculoos-2c: A new potentially habitable earth
by awestroke on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @11:32AM
(#32751988)
As your target speed approaches the speed of light, the energy required aproaches infinity
Re:Speculoos-2c: A new potentially habitable earth
by layer8 on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @12:19PM
(#32752609)
Of course. But it’s a common misconception that traveling a distance of N light years will take at least N years subjectively. At something like 70% of light speed the subjective time already drops below the distance number: https://physics.stackexchange.com/questions/109776/how-long-...
Re:Speculoos-2c: A new potentially habitable earth
by robofanatic on Wednesday September 07, 2022 @12:44PM
(#32752971)
suppose we have the tech to travel at a significant fraction of light speed, how long will it take for the spacecraft to reach that speed and similarly how long will it take to slow down when you are approaching a target planet?