TauZero , 11 months ago

You are behind the times on physics advancements buddy! Thanks to the recently discovered concept of relativistic time dilation, a 5000 light year trip at the speed of light will take literally 0 seconds of your lifespan. More practically, travelling in a starship that accelerates at 1G to the halfway point, turns around and decelerates to the destination, you can reach ridiculous distances within a single human lifetime:

shipboard timedistanceearth time1 year.263 LY1.05 Y2 years1.13 LY2.37 Y3 years2.82 LY4.35 Y4 years5.80 LY7.50 Y5 years10.9 LY12.7 Y10 years166 LY168 Y15 years2199 LY2201 Y20 years28.8 kLY28.8 kY25 years380 kLY380 kY50 years149 GLy149 GY100 years22.8 ZLy22.8 ZYThis is the formula to calculate the distance and time:

<pre style="background-color:#ffffff;">
<span style="color:#323232;">x(τ) = c**2/a [cosh(τ a/c) - 1]
</span><span style="color:#323232;">t(τ) = c/a sinh(τ a/c)
</span><span style="color:#323232;">
</span><span style="color:#323232;">a = 9.8 m/s
</span><span style="color:#323232;">c = 3e8 m/s
</span>

The formula is hyperbolic, which is why travel distance is not a linear relation of travel time. E.g. given τ = 10 years:

<pre style="background-color:#ffffff;">
<span style="color:#323232;">x = 3e8**2/9.8 * (cosh(60*60*24*365*10/2 * 9.8/3e8) - 1) * 2 / (3e8 * 60*60*24*365)
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  = 166 light years
</span><span style="color:#323232;">t = 3e8/9.8 * sinh(60*60*24*365*10/2 * 9.8/3e8) * 2 / (60*60*24*365)
</span><span style="color:#323232;">  = 168 years
</span>