Hm. Well, that's about the reaction I expected.
The main reason I floated this idea (aside from perverse impulse to meddle where I shouldn't) is that the way we zip around the solar system kind of robs it of scale, if that makes sense. It's like we've jumped from paddling around in Neolithic canoes all the way up to jet-setting in 747s without any of the intervening steps. Getting to Mars in four hours, or even eight hours feels like cheating, 'cause we're all just too frickin' impatient to handle a couple days' trip. Part of the ain't-it-neat appeal of space is the fact that it's very large, and in a way I think treating it like a drive from Dublin to Cork (or Denver to Albuquerque, or Toronto to Montreal, or whatever) kind of robs the whole experience of majesty. I know this is a minority opinion though, and I'll abide by the consensus.
Anyway, throwing out another table, since I've been crunching numbers most of the evening:
Table: Comparison of an acceleration of 2500 m/s (255G) vs. flat speed of .1c
(NOTE: All distances are from Earth to target at opposition, not mean distance.)
Earth to Target Distance (km) Time (accel) Time (speed)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mercury 219,281,438 5.20 hours 2.03 hours
Venus 264,041,592 5.71 hours 2.45 hours
Luna 384,400 0.22 hours 0.00 hours
Mars 401,186,657 7.04 hours 3.72 hours
Ceres 594,739,367 8.57 hours 5.51 hours
Jupiter 967,727,284 10.93 hours 8.97 hours
Saturn 1,655,090,159 14.29 hours 15.34 hours
Uranus 3,153,114,382 19.73 hours 29.22 hours
Neptune 4,686,151,281 24.05 hours 43.42 hours
Limit 5,235,930,000 25.42 hours 48.51 hours
Pluto 7,518,235,539 30.47 hours 69.66 hours
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"
The main reason I floated this idea (aside from perverse impulse to meddle where I shouldn't) is that the way we zip around the solar system kind of robs it of scale, if that makes sense. It's like we've jumped from paddling around in Neolithic canoes all the way up to jet-setting in 747s without any of the intervening steps. Getting to Mars in four hours, or even eight hours feels like cheating, 'cause we're all just too frickin' impatient to handle a couple days' trip. Part of the ain't-it-neat appeal of space is the fact that it's very large, and in a way I think treating it like a drive from Dublin to Cork (or Denver to Albuquerque, or Toronto to Montreal, or whatever) kind of robs the whole experience of majesty. I know this is a minority opinion though, and I'll abide by the consensus.
Anyway, throwing out another table, since I've been crunching numbers most of the evening:
Table: Comparison of an acceleration of 2500 m/s (255G) vs. flat speed of .1c
(NOTE: All distances are from Earth to target at opposition, not mean distance.)
Earth to Target Distance (km) Time (accel) Time (speed)
-----------------------------------------------------------------------------
Mercury 219,281,438 5.20 hours 2.03 hours
Venus 264,041,592 5.71 hours 2.45 hours
Luna 384,400 0.22 hours 0.00 hours
Mars 401,186,657 7.04 hours 3.72 hours
Ceres 594,739,367 8.57 hours 5.51 hours
Jupiter 967,727,284 10.93 hours 8.97 hours
Saturn 1,655,090,159 14.29 hours 15.34 hours
Uranus 3,153,114,382 19.73 hours 29.22 hours
Neptune 4,686,151,281 24.05 hours 43.42 hours
Limit 5,235,930,000 25.42 hours 48.51 hours
Pluto 7,518,235,539 30.47 hours 69.66 hours
Mr. Fnord interdimensional man of mystery
FenWiki - Your One-Stop Shop for Fenspace Information
"I. Drink. Your. NERDRAGE!"