Re: starship-design: Re: Inspiration attached!

[STAR1SHIP@aol.com]

<< starship-design@lists.uoregon.edu >>
 karlsagan  (Original Message) Sent: 2/12/2002 12:44 AM 
    Whenever we look at the universe, we look into the past, being limited by 
the speed of light as we are.  But there is a whole universe that we are 
unaware of.  It is the universe of the NOW.  Right now everything in the 
universe is experienceing the same NOW we are.  Heavenly bodies a billion 
lightyears away have been moving those billion years that light took to get 
here and are not there anymore.  Where are they now?   Is there some sort of 
map or computer simulation that shows where everything is right now?  If  
faster that light travel is ever to be possible, we have to go to where  a 
star  is NOW, not from where ever their light  shines from. 

Karl,
Excellent questions  considering in the last 50 years we found a math error 
in calculating the distance to the stars off by a factor of 2. No telling 
what errors will be found in the future. It would seem wise not to consider a 
minimum energy requirement journey to any star for the reasons you gave. 
Perhaps a craft would have to have enough energy to go anywhere in in the 
universe and back to succeed. I found some good numbers indicating that very 
possiblility even if the speed is limited to just below light speed. The only 
difference from  C + V travel is your earth twin would be ancient bones if 
you return with the C -V ship.

Here are the numbers for C -V ship dilated time near c Vs earth time at 1 g 
acceleration. 

Alpha Centauri   4.36 ly       268 days      0.999128      4.56 years
     Sirius        8.64 ly       314 days      0.999769      8.84 years
     Polaris        783 ly      1.71 years    0.999999997   783.4 years

  ...and onward to the heart of the galaxy...

Nucleus, Milky Way 32616 ly     2.43 years  0.9999999999830  32637 years

  and into the realm beyond.  The velocities start to take so
  many digits to write I have write them on the next line!

Andromeda galaxy  2,180,000 ly  3.22 years 0.999999999999996 2,181,447 years
Virgo cluster   42,000,000 ly  3.78 years         V        42,027,876 years
                                           0.99999999999999999
Quasar 3C273  2,500,000,000 ly 4.56 years         V     2,501,659,318 years
                                          0.999999999999999999997
Universe edge 17,000,000,000 ly 4.93 years         V    17,011,283,360 years

Grasshopper,
Star travel is no place for girlie boys.
Yoda
 
How did yoda get in here?
Here is the energy available for star travel calculations.for C plus or minus 
v ship.
 
An ordinary chemical rocket can control by throttle an exhaust flow rate to
give 1 g acceleration for several hours based on tests of rockets reaching an
average 15g for many minutes such as "Hellious".
At less than 1 year = 356 days time 24 hours =8544 hours of 1 g acceleration
are needed to exceed c.
Versus present chemical rockets, 8,544/3(several) times more power is needed 
so
that acceleration time can be measured at greater than 356 days to excced c.
The chemical vs atomic power to mass unit ratio based on atomic bomb and
reactor test measurements are best "guesstamated" at 1,000,000 to 100,000,000
times the power possible with chemical rockets so atomic rockets of good 
design
can maintain 1 g acceleration for 351 to 35100 years.

C-ship: Our Sturdy Craft
http://www.fourmilab.ch/cship/craft.html
The Relativistic Rocket Applet
http://ucsu.colorado.edu/~obrian/applets/Rocket/Voyage.html
Rocket simulations
http://www.execpc.com/~culp/rockets/rckt_sim.html