3 ms·

I thought there was another name for it, but it seems that the Wait Calculation, is applicable right now, i.e. if we send something now, we might as well wait f

I thought there was another name for it, but it seems that the Wait Calculation, is applicable right now, i.e. if we send something now, we might as well wait for X years and send something that's faster and will over take whatever we send now. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_travel#Wait_calculation https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Interstellar_travel#Wait_calcu...

tyho 4y ago
The wait calculation doesn't really apply to this project. The whole basis of it is that new technology can't speed up probes you have already launched. This isn't true for these probes as improvements in technology can be used to increase the speed of the probes that have already been launched. It also assumes that the bulk of the investment is in the hardware that's launched. With this project, the expensive stuff stays on the ground, the probes are cheap.