4 ms·
Voyager 1 (1977) travels at 38,210 mph. The ISS (1998) travels at 17,400 mph. There's abundant precedent of accelerating to high speeds in space, where there'
by 29athrowaway 3y ago
Voyager 1 (1977) travels at 38,210 mph.
The ISS (1998) travels at 17,400 mph.
There's abundant precedent of accelerating to high speeds in space, where there's no friction with an atmosphere that slows you down and where you can use gravitational fields as sling shots.
0.3c might seem high but if you keep accelerating you will eventually reach that speed.
- shmageggy 3y ago> There's abundant precedent of accelerating to high speeds in space But there's zero precedent for slowing down once you get somewhere (in 10,000 years)
- irrational 3y agoWhy would they slow down? Fly by and beam back the results.
- z3phyr 3y agoHow much power is needed to beam back the results from that distance? I ask because I suppose the probes are going to be very small.
- sidlls 3y agoAt 0.25c the probes would blast through the centauri system in minutes. Hardly enough time to collect data more useful than what we already can sitting here practically stationary, even if absurdly far away.
- andrewstuart 3y agoAbout 75,000 years away at voyager speed.
- 29athrowaway 3y agoThe difference is that these spacecraft will be smaller, and use light sailing as propulsion mechanism. Which means that a ground station can keep beaming light at them causing them to accelerate.
- euroderf 3y agoAnd maybe enough deceleration at the other end to drop into a large eccentric orbit ?