tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196163935457463870.post2111281763095316790..comments2023-10-09T14:44:54.023-05:00Comments on Mission: Spork: Return to Tomorrow - Chapter I - Not to be Confused with the Pizza PlaceNathan Johnsonhttp://www.blogger.com/profile/09504332787476259342noreply@blogger.comBlogger2125tag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196163935457463870.post-47758597817304190372016-05-03T14:53:57.895-05:002016-05-03T14:53:57.895-05:00(Granted, I'm not trying to take time dilation...(Granted, I'm not trying to take time dilation into consideration because I don't know enough to. But if a light year is the distance that light travels in a year, and you're going at light speed or below, I don't see how you can arrive faster than light would.)depizanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16718932582443559617noreply@blogger.comtag:blogger.com,1999:blog-196163935457463870.post-20831008084974704922016-05-03T14:26:07.438-05:002016-05-03T14:26:07.438-05:00I know this is far from the only sci-fi novel to h...I know this is far from the only sci-fi novel to have no faster than light travel, yet far flung places to ship to, but I'm always confused as to how that would work.<br /><br />You send a colony to a world ten years away. You won't know for twenty years if they actually make it. (And that's assuming they send a ship back right away to report.) Do you start sending resupply ships right away (one a year, or whatever), banking on them having made it? Any disaster that happens you won't know about for ten years, and, from their point of view, no relief will come for twenty.<br /><br />Okay, Alpha Centauri is apparently closer than that, at 4.37 light years away (according to wikipedia), but you're still looking at a nearly nine year turn around on anything. And Betelgeuse? Wikipedia tells me it's <i>640</i> light years away. How would this possibly work? I can believe in <i>unsupported</i> colonies, but not in regular space travel.<br />depizanhttps://www.blogger.com/profile/16718932582443559617noreply@blogger.com