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TGLS · 03-27-2023, 09:18 AM

Here are some numbers:

OK, let's say the probes were travelling for about a decade and they accelerated the whole time from Earth to AC. That implies an acceleration of about 0.086 ly/yr^2. Let's say immediately after the probes arrive, a ship is launched with the same kind of acceleration that can also decelerate at 0.02 ly/yr^2 (perhaps using a mag-sail to decelerate). This implies a travel time of about 23 years, or an arrival in 2103.

I dunno how plausible it is to go from starswarm to starship in that short a period of time (the acceleration may be very different, unless the ships are very small or the number of particle accelerators gets ramped up very fast). The trip would also be one-way, unless they ship enough infrastructure to build a lot of particle accelerators over in AC, or perhaps they just send infomorphs back and forth.

Depending on who gets there first, the answer of what happens probably depends on why the ship was sent. Prestige mission probably implies colony, which could easily be entirely space based. Why bother with the gravity well if it's not habitable down at the bottom? If the goal is bioconservation, they might setup weapons to shoot down incoming starships. If the goal is spraying humans and earth life all over the place, we might see terraforming similar to what came in on Mars, which will either kill all the Navi or leave them in a completely unrecognizable world. I don't really see much use in mining, at least in the short term. And even still, surely the rest of AC has unobtainium.

03-27-2023, 09:18 AM	#9
TGLS Join Date: Jan 2014	Re: Transhuman Space/Avatar Here are some numbers: OK, let's say the probes were travelling for about a decade and they accelerated the whole time from Earth to AC. That implies an acceleration of about 0.086 ly/yr^2. Let's say immediately after the probes arrive, a ship is launched with the same kind of acceleration that can also decelerate at 0.02 ly/yr^2 (perhaps using a mag-sail to decelerate). This implies a travel time of about 23 years, or an arrival in 2103. I dunno how plausible it is to go from starswarm to starship in that short a period of time (the acceleration may be very different, unless the ships are very small or the number of particle accelerators gets ramped up very fast). The trip would also be one-way, unless they ship enough infrastructure to build a lot of particle accelerators over in AC, or perhaps they just send infomorphs back and forth. Depending on who gets there first, the answer of what happens probably depends on why the ship was sent. Prestige mission probably implies colony, which could easily be entirely space based. Why bother with the gravity well if it's not habitable down at the bottom? If the goal is bioconservation, they might setup weapons to shoot down incoming starships. If the goal is spraying humans and earth life all over the place, we might see terraforming similar to what came in on Mars, which will either kill all the Navi or leave them in a completely unrecognizable world. I don't really see much use in mining, at least in the short term. And even still, surely the rest of AC has unobtainium.