Recent content by rocky

Thanks! I couldn't think of any constraint that made sense in the book. I don't believe engine efficiency was mentioned. The way the engine works in the book is essentially by converting mass to light energy and shining that behind the ship. I was just hoping to confirm that my math made sense...

My proposed plan assumes it can reach the same rapidity as the calculated plan. Basically, I’m wondering why the author proposed a plan with a lower acceleration. It kind of seems like a plot hole, since the ship is capable of higher acceleration, and the fuel constraint doesn’t seem to increase...

Apologies, here is the content of the attachment: Relevant equations: Proper time to travel a given distance at constant acceleration: ##\tau = \frac{c}{a}\cosh^{-1}\left(1 + \frac{a D}{c^2}\right)## Rapidity: ##\phi = \frac{a \tau}{c}## Velocity at a given rapidity: ##v = c \tanh{\phi}##...

My image got compressed beyond readability, so here is the PDF version

Warning: Minor spoilers for the book Project Hail Mary ahead. A ship has travelled to Tau Ceti (11.9 light years from Earth). The ship uses light as propulsion, and effectively converts the fuel mass into light energy. It carries 2,000,000 kg of fuel. During the journey it underwent a constant...