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E65 - Space travel - when???
Here's a thought...
When is the 'best' time to fly through space? Given the technology is always advancing, the velocity of space vehicles will tend to increase over time. So, how does this affect journey times in space?
Photo by Maris Rhamdani on Pexels.com[/caption] Here's a scenario:
Imagine it is the year 2000 and a spacecraft can travel at maximum velocity, v. It leaves the Earth for a planet which will take 40 years to reach. So, it will arrive in the year 2040.
Now imagine that by the year 2010 the technology has improved such that the new spacecrafts can travel at twice the velocity of the first craft, i.e. 2v. It leaves for the same planet in 2010 and arrives there 20 years later (twice the speed!!) in the year 2030 - that's 10 years before the first spacecraft!!
In the year 2020 the new spacecrafts can fly twice as fast as those in 2010 - i.e. 4v. It leaves the Earth for the same planet and arrives in 2030, having only taken 10 years to reach there (twice as fast as spacecraft 2).
So, the spacecraft which left the Earth in 2010 and 2020 both arrive at the same time!
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