So you wanna go to Alpha Centauri? Eh?
May 12, 2019 15:33:32 GMT -5
Post by Radrook Admin on May 12, 2019 15:33:32 GMT -5
So you wanna go to Alpha Centauri? Eh?
Happily for us humans the nearest star from us is just a mere four light years away. Gee! That’s neat isn’t it? That should make the trip a piece of cake. Well, that would be true if the speed of light weren’t as fast as it is. Then we could attain it and just hold tight for a mere four years until we get there. Unfortunately the speed of light is pretty fast from earth standards.
For example, at the speed of light you could run seven and a half times around the earth in one second. Now if that isn’t fast then what is? Yep it sure as hell is indeed fast. “So what is the problem?” you might ask. The problem is that our nearest star system is so distant that traveling at a steady rate of 186,000 miles per-second you would still take four years to get there.
You see, the Alpha Centauri System might be the nearest but it is still a staggering 300,000 times the distance from the Earth to the sun or a mind boggling 25 trillion miles (40 trillion km) away from Earth. Which is a whopping 300,000 times 93 million miles.
So what? Well, here is where the trouble kicks in with a vengeance. We don’t have the means to get anywhere near the speed of light with our present propulsion systems. The New Horizons spacecraft, which visited Pluto and its moons traveled at the impressive clip of 36,373 miles per hour (58,536 km/h). It was launched in mid-January, 2006. Yet it reached Pluto in mid-July, 2015. That is nine-and-a-half years later. If it had been aimed at Alpha Centauri system, it would have taken it 78,000 years to get there.
So we just don’t have the necessary means to even reach fifty percent of the speed of light which would make the voyage an eight year affair. Now, if we could just get a ship to travel at 20% the speed of light, then we could get to Centauri in twenty years.
Ship time vs Earth time:
However it’ isn’t really as bad as it sounds for the crew. So don’t lose hope. That’s because you will experience time dilation. This means that time will seem to pass much faster for you than it is being simultaneously experienced on Earth. For example, let’s consider the ratio of Earth time to ship time if we travel at 99% light speed. At that rate it has been estimated that each day on your ship would equal a year on Earth. So your trip to our closest star system, the Alpha Centaury, which is approx four light-years distant, would be experienced as merely four days on your beloved ship but as four years back on Earth.
Of course this isn’t factoring in the acceleration and deceleration times that such a trip would require in order to gradually build up momentum. I mean. You didn’t expect the ship to shoot from zero to that velocity instantaneously did you? That would slam you and everyone else on board against the hull with deadly consequences. Which means your acceleration will need to be gradual my friend. It also means that you would not experience such a drastic time dilation effect uniformly throughout the voyage. Only as the acceleration increases would the time discrepancy between earth and the ship become more severe.
In any case, lets say that during your trip to the Alpha Centauri system our ship takes a day for gradual acceleration and another to gradual deceleration. That still leaves you with two ship days of time dilation at 99% speed of light. That means that while the you experienced two days on your ship, Earth experienced two years. Which is neat for you since it significantly reduces the severe psychological stress that long-duration space travel entails.
A farther destination:
For farther destinations things get a bit more creepy. For example, if the destination is 365 light years distant, then at the rate of a ship-day for every Earth a year, you would reach your destination in one ship year. Unfortunately, that would amount to approx 365 years back on Earth.
Upon arrival, perhaps you’ll spend regular ship year in exploring the region. But with an additional ship year added in the return trip, it would increase the total round trip to approx 730 Earth years. That is similar to a person from the year 1287, which is 205 years before Columbus traveled to the Americas, suddenly being transported to our present time of 2017 after traveling for two years..
Other Consequences:
Of course such a phenomenon would increase the your ability to reach distant places in the cosmos via the lifespan extension. People back on Earth would be born and would die over and over as you calmly remain untouched. Traveling at 99% the speed of light and aging only a day for every earth year.
Happy now? Well, it does have a certain rather bitter downside. It requires a willingness to sacrifice all relationships and the hopes of returning to the familiar Earth you happily left behind. A lot of things can happen during all those years.
Still wanna go to Alpha Centauri? Eh?