how long would it take to travel 20.5 light years?

Question

A new planet outside our solar system has been discovered. it is approximatly 20.5 light years away. If A space Shuttle was sent to take a closer look at this planet. How many years would it take for the shuttle to reach the planet. And would it be able to return to Earth with the data.

guess we all have to sit and wait for alien life to come find us

Answer 1

The space shuttle is not capable of leaving low earth orbit, let alone the solar system. It would probably take a nuclear-powered rocket to reach another star system, but it would still take a long time to go 20 lightyears, depending on the speed, of course. The voyager II spacecraft is the fastest probe we've sent into space, about 35,000 mph. At that speed it would take 390,000 years.

Answer 2

It depends on several things. First of all, how much acceleration can you stand? Second, how much fuel can you pack into your vehicle? Third, are you measuring in terms of someone on the craft, or someone staying on Earth?

Regardless, this is far beyond our present technology. The Shuttle Transport System can't carry enough fuel to get there and back within the expected lifetime of the craft (something would get hit or otherwise break down). It can't carry enough consumables (oxygen and food) for the crew to survive -- remember, the trip has to take at *least* 20.5 ground years each way, much of that "real time" to the crew.

In an idealized system, where a craft could accelerate to near light-speed for the first half of the trip, then decelerate (all at one gravity), we're still looking at roughly an 80-year trip, with an apparent (relative) time span of 30 years for the crew.

Don't hold your breath.

Answer 3

If we could travel at the speed of light then it would only take 20.5 years. The speed of light however is 186,000 miles per second that or 10e24 MPH ten with 24 zeros after it. The space shuttle is capable of speeds barely in excess of 15,000 mph

We will never be able to achieve lightspeed or anything close to it.

So lets calculat the at the current state of our technology a flight to Centaurus Proximi (nearest star) which is 3.4 light years it would take 10,000 years so based on that approximation I believe that it would take about 60,294 years give or take a couple of hundred centuries.

It probably will never become a favorite vacation destination for jet setters.

This is calculated using availabe data for space travel from Steven Hawking as stated in his book A Brief History of Time.
Simon Shuster Publishers.

[;-)

Daddy are we there yet?

.

Answer 4

If the space shuttle is travelling at half the speed of light then it would take 41 years to reach destination and another 41 years to get back to earth.

Answer 5

The shuttle travels at about 15,000 mph. And light travles at about 186,000 mps. So light travels about 5.879 trillion mpy (a light year) and the shuttle travels (at a constant rate of 15,000 mph) about 131.4 million mpy. Therefore, it would take 44,741.25 years to travel 1 light year in the shuttle. My shuttle speed is based on SRB's still being attached.

Answer 6

Hi. The Planet in question is 120 trillion ,246 billion, 768 million miles from Earth .If we could travel at say 100,000 miles per hour it would take appro.19,610 years to arrive.

Answer 7

Sorry I can't be bothered to work it out exactly, but I'm sure you'll find the best that could be done would be to get something out that way in thousands of years.

Doubt the investors would want to wait that long for returns.

Answer 8

if the planet is past the dworf planets then no because the futher a space shuttle has ever reached is mars and at this it was only space probes that were sent there

Answer 9

i have this calculating thingymabob on my compand it says 378.980 yrs

Answer 10

3X10^8second
multiply it by.....
60secondX60minutesX24.
and then.....
multiply it by 366
there's the time you should wait for the alien