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Message: <blockquote data-quote="Janx" data-source="post: 5666699" data-attributes="member: 8835">That's a useful answer.If my rocket can go .9c, will I see it in 4/.9*2 years?Basically, disregarding the 1c limit, is there anything else intrinsic to speed that affects the mission?  Or is the math still normal like the .5 example?And of course, we are ignoring the paste problem, which presumably is because lots of acceleration = lots of Gs = lots of paste.  Another simple mechanic us layment can understand without needing math.Now to the first part of your statement.  Barring the technical issue of fuel and engines for my super fast rocket, why can it not go 1c (relative to me sitting at home on the launch pad)?What makes it not go that fast, whats so special about going from .8c to .9c to 1c?if my rocket accelerates in .1c bursts, pauses to recharge the accelerates again, after 10 bursts, is it not going 1c, relative to me sitting on earth on that launchpad?[MENTION=10324]jonesy[/MENTION], for the purposes of a 40 second or 16 year test, how much drift between my space station and alpha centauri are we talking about?  Is it adding 5 feet, 5 miles, 5 light years?  For the purposes of a short term test, true motionlessness and non-significant drift are good enough.It's like your example about the capsule going to the moon.  yes, you are correct that the moon is moving towards the capsule from a certain perspective.  But that perspective is functionally useless when we know we launched the capsule at the moon, not the moon at the capsule.  The guys in the capsule know they are riding a capsule that is headed for the moon, which is also moving, but they will catch up to*.  While their eyes tell them the moon is getting bigger, they know that they are moving and the moon is not actually doing all the work and headed for them, they are headed for the moon.  *NASA guys probably know to aim the capsule into the path of the moon or some such that technically the moon may also be moving through its orbit into a collision course with the capsule.  it's no different than the thinking that "what if reality was just our souls remote driving our bodies like in the Matrix."  It may be true that that's how reality works, but it is functionally useless.</blockquote>

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