How to Reach a 8.6 Lightyear Star in 60 Years?

[DeverX]

So let's say i wanne go to a 8.6 Lightyear distant star...
And the fastes thing we launched so fare can go 200km/s...
My calculation says that we gona need 1290 years to get there...
Thats just not practical...
Does anyone has a "theoretically" working way to get there in let's say 60 years...
A Slingshot seems not to be practical... because we need to slow down a lot at the destination...
Wormhole is also disqualified because of "how to make one"...
Stargate... see Wormhole plus there is none at the destination...
Warpdrive aka Space distortion drive could be an option but how does it really work...
Lightspeed... Einstein says no...

Anyone any other idee?

 

[fresh_42]

Is this a Sci-Fi question?

 

[DeverX]

Ahm... yes kind of... but i wanne keep it realisitic so i thought i put it in here... sorry when i went wrong...

 

[Drakkith]

And the fastes thing we launched so fare can go 200km/s...

Nothing has ever been launched from Earth at that speed! That's about 40x orbital velocity in LEO! The only reason the Parker Solar Probe reaches this speed is because it falls towards the Sun on its way to closest approach. Anything launched outwards from the solar system will be fighting the Sun's gravity the whole way, decelerating it over time.

y calculation says that we gona need 1290 years to get there...
Thats just not practical...
Does anyone has a "theoretically" working way to get there in let's say 60 years...
A Slingshot seems not to be practical... because we need to slow down a lot at the destination...
Wormhole is also disqualified because of "how to make one"...
Stargate... see Wormhole plus there is none at the destination...
Warpdrive aka Space distortion drive could be an option but how does it really work...
Lightspeed... Einstein says no...

Anyone any other idee?

If we're talking about sci-fi, just invent some propulsion method. If we're talking realistic physics, then your only choice is to use some sort of rocket. It's going to be very big.

 

[anorlunda]

If you're thinking sci fi, why bother with a ship at all? Why not just beam yourself there in zero time?

 

[DeverX]

realism...

 

[fresh_42]

realism...

In this case you will probably need a huge generation ship.

 

[Drakkith]

If you're stuck on being realistic, your only real bet is some type of rocket. If you want to bend realism a bit, you could go with something like an Alcubierre drive or a wormhole. Note that many different types of rockets exist, so it doesn't have to be a chemical rocket. Ion and nuclear propulsion both exist, as do other more 'exotic' types of drive systems.

 

[Klystron]

My old university math teacher published a book purported to be the collected knowledge of Frank Shook, a cable repair person turned bio-technologist, Saucer Wisdom by Rudy Rucker, that explains how to travel these distances via biological/electronic technology.

Frank also shows Rudy how to communicate with saucer beings from the comfort of his TV room who will help design your star drive. All quite realistic if you ever visit Los Gatos, California, just a few kilometers from the Santa Cruz summit, the epicenter of the Loma
Prieta earthquake, and the Scott's Valley mystery spot.

 

[pedro the swift]

Check out the Frank Herbert "Dune" series of books. He had a great way to overcome interstellar distances with the use of "melange" and special "navigators".

 

[BWV]

At constant 1G acceleration / deceleration it would take about 4.6 years to travel 8.6 LY. If using fusion, a 25,000 Kg payload would require over 6 million KG of fuel. If you had some way to cheaply create and then store antimatter it would be easier. There are also schemes to use stationary energy sources in our solar system to project the craft.

http://nathangeffen.webfactional.com/spacetravel/spacetravel.php

 

[Klystron]

Check out the Frank Herbert "Dune" series of books. He had a great way to overcome interstellar distances with the use of "melange" and special "navigators".

Concur. Herbert had a brilliant idea to combine the means of transportation, forecast, 'computation' (non-human computers were outlawed), religious fervor and recreation in a single substance only available from the deserts of one planet setting up vital conflicts. FTL travel becomes another mercantile trade controlled by guilds.

If simplicity is your goal, consider Heinlein's 'fold ships'. The fundamental problem with interstellar travel is the immense distance between star systems. 'Fold' space so that remote destinations 'touch' and distance problem solved. Heinlein also used teleportation 'gates' in stories where new worlds to explore were the object as opposed to space travel tales.

In other words SF transportation depends on the type of novel. Realistic velocities below light speed require years of travel even with frozen embryos or 'cold sleep' indicating a travel tale or a moving space habitat. If the story concerns fall of empires and major conflicts, transportation becomes a sort of commodity as in Dune. If the story mainly concerns young people on new worlds, transport is largely a given. For example in a modern novel, characters may fly among countries with little to no knowledge of jet aircraft and use phones and electric cars without technical knowledge unless it fits the plot.

 

[DrStupid]

You don't need exotic concepts. A fusion powered rocket motor could do the job. A mass defect of 1 % and an efficiency of 50 % (just to be not completely unrealistic) would result in a specific momentum of 0.1 c. Reaching the required speed of around 0.15 c and finally braking down to zero would be possible with a mass ratio of 18. That is within the typical range of currently used rockets.