Special Relativity: Travel to the Stars

The Astrophysics Spectator

Special Relativity

Travel to the Stars

Time slows as we accelerate. Does this mean we can slow time enough to reach the stars in several years? Yes, we can. If we accelerate at 980 cm s^-2, which is the average gravitational acceleration at Earth's surface, we experience a slowing of time that commences after one year of travel away from Earth.

Time Dilation During a Round Trip

In our imaginary trip, we will travel in a rocket to a destination and back with constant acceleration. We accelerate towards our destination over the first-half of the distance to our destination, and we accelerate towards Earth over the second-half of this distance, so that our spaceship reaches it highest speed half-way between Earth and our destination and is at rest at our destination. The spaceship will then make the return trip to Earth in the same way. At the end of the trip, we compare the clock carried by the spacecraft to a clock left at Earth. What we find is that substantially more time has passed for Earth than for the travelers on our spacecraft.

The equation for the time at Earth versus the time in the spaceship for a round trip is given by

t = 4 c sinh(gτ/4c)/g,

where c is the speed of light, g is the acceleration, and τ is the time for the passengers on the spacecraft, which is called the proper time of the spacecraft. These two times are given in the live figure to the left as functions of destination distance. For trips much longer than τ = 4c/g, the elapsed time on Earth increases exponentially with elapsed time on the spacecraft.

The total distance traveled in a spacecraft elapsed time of τ is given by

x = 4 c² ( cosh(gτ/4c) - 1 )/g.

For an acceleration rate of 980 cm s^-2, which is the average gravitational acceleration at Earth's surface, the constant g/c becomes 1.03 years^-1, and our travelers must travel for about a year before their elapsed time is significantly less than the elapsed time at Earth. For travel times that are much less than a year, the time measured in the spacecraft is equal to the time measured at Earth, and the travel time is related to distance traveled by Newtonian mechanics: x = at²/8. For travel times as measured in the spacecraft that much longer than a year, the elapsed time measured at Earth goes to the light travel time to the destination and back; it is orders of magnitude longer than the elapsed time measured in the spacecraft. This transition from a Newtonian to a relativistic description of travel is apparent in the figure, with the time line for Earth exhibiting a change in slope the time line for the travelers flattening out at about 1 year.

This live figure shows the amount of time, given in years, that passes for a round-trip to an object at the given distance, which is given in parsecs. The travelers are accelerating at a constant rate throughout the trip. The line marked Traveler gives the elapsed time experienced by a traveler. The line marked Earth gives the elapsed time experienced on Earth. The reader can change the rate of acceleration in units of 980 cm s^-2, which is the gravitational acceleration at Earth's surface; values can range from 0.25 to 50. Control of the applet from the keyboard is described in the Applet Control Guide.

Travel to the Stars and the Galaxies

The nearest star is over one parsec away from Earth; as can be seen in the figure, a round-trip to an object at 1 parsec takes 6.8 years for our traveler, but 9.65 years for those left behind on Earth. This isn't much of a time savings. The real time savings occurs for travel to objects that are 10 parsecs way, with an elapsed time of 13.9 years for our travelers, and an elapsed time of 69.0 years for those on Earth. To travel a truly galactic distance, 1 kpc, takes 31.5 years for our travelers and 6,527 years for those on Earth. In less than half a human lifetime, our travelers would pass through a large fraction of recorded human history. Travel less than twice this time, and our travels can visit galaxies that are 1 million parsecs away, farther than the Andromeda Galaxy, our companion spiral galaxy, but at the cost of jumping 6.5 million years into Earth's future, a time long enough for human evolution to occur. If our travelers go to the galaxies, they may not find on their return apes dominating humans, but they likely would find humans that are much different from themselves.

If we were in a bigger hurry, we could increase our acceleration, which would shorten the time for time dilation to commence. The time of commencement is inversely-proportional to the acceleration, so doubling our acceleration will half the time at which time dilation appears. So accelerating at twice Earth's surface gravity will produce significant time dilation in 6 months. At this acceleration, our travelers can travel to 1 kpc destinations and back in only 17.1 years, and to destinations at 1 Mpc in only 30.5 years. Elapsed times back on Earth, however, do not change significantly for distances over 10 parsecs over the elapsed times for the lower acceleration rate, because the spacecraft travel time is nearly the light-travel time, which is the minimum elapsed time that will be measured at Earth.

Realistic Applications

Our imaginary spacecraft, while not physically impossible, would be a technical colossus. Engines would have to provide continual acceleration for decades, and the amount of energy that would have to be expended would be many times the rest mass energy of the spacecraft and it occupants. Once the spacecraft experiences substantial time dilation, the surrounding starlight is blueshifted to x-ray and gamma-ray energies, with velocities counter to the spacecraft's direction of acceleration; this radiation exerts a substantial drag on the spacecraft. While these hurdles may one day be overcome, I suspect that day is many millennia way.

But while our imaginary trip is far beyond current technology, astronomers in their studies encounter matter that has undergone a similar acceleration. The radio jets of active galaxies, the gamma-ray bursts from supernovae, and the cosmic rays that strike Earth are examples of the acceleration of atoms and particles to nearly the speed of light. Nature has its accelerators that can overcome the drag of ambient radiation. Special relativity pervades the astrophysics of these accelerators and their products.

Issue 2.16, April 27, 2005.

© 2005 The Astrophysics Spectator.

Black triangle (UFO) - TR-3B "ASTRA"

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Black triangle (UFO) - TR-3B "ASTRA"

"Black triangles" are a class of unidentified flying objects (UFOs) with certain common features which have reportedly been observed from the 1940s to the present. Reports of black triangles generally originate from the United States and Britain.

Reports generally describe this class of UFOs as enormous, silent, black triangular crafts, hovering or slowly cruising at low altitudes over cities and highways, usually at night and making no attempt to evade detection. These crafts are often described as having "running lights", either bright white lights or pulsing colored lights that appear at each corner of the triangle.

Editor's Note:






























This reprint of the TR-3B specifications claim is based on information generally credited to Edgar Fouche, who claimed involvement with this project in the 1990's. We make no claims about whether this is factually accurate or not, but this story becomes more interesting as time progesses. What was originally considered to be a "wacky UFO-claim" seems to be the benefactor of a great deal of coincidence as AG research moves forward.
Simply put, the TR-3B's claim to use an MHD torus filled with a "virtual plasma" of high-pressure mercury is strikingly similar to the unrelated claims of Igor Witkoski about the construction of the Nazi Bell device, as well as anecdotal evidence relating to other instances of AG-effects in mercury in the presence of RF-fields. Additionally, a plasma-toroid is the only means of replicating some aspects of Eugene Podkletnov's superconductor experiments on a larger scale than achievable through traditional Type-II ceramic superconductors (plasma's and SC's both absorb magnetic field lines). It should be noted that none of the invidividuals in any of these claims were aware of each other's existence when they published their work, making the similarities quite striking...

The tactical reconnaissance TR-3B's (code-named Astra) first operational flight was in the early 90s. The triangular shaped nuclear powered aerospace platform was developed under the Top Secret, Aurora Program with SDI and black budget monies. At least 3 of the billion dollar plus TR-3Bs were flying by 1994. The Aurora is the most classified aerospace development program in existence. The TR-3B is the most exotic vehicle created by the Aurora Program. It is funded and operationally tasked by the National Reconnaissance Office, the NSA, and the CIA. The TR-3B flying triangle is not fiction and was built with technology available in the mid 80s.Not every UFO spotted is one of theirs.

The TR-3B vehicle’s outer coating is reactive to electricalRadar stimulation and can change reflectiveness, radar absorptiveness,and color. This polymer skin, when used in conjunction with the TR-3Bs Electronic Counter Measures and, ECCM, can make the vehicle look like a small aircraft, or a flying cylinder--or even trick radar receivers into falsely detecting a variety of aircraft, no aircraft, or several aircraft at various locations.A circular, plasma filled accelerator ring called the Magnetic Field Disrupter, surrounds the rotatable crew compartment and is far ahead of any imaginable technology.

Sandia and Livermore laboratories developed the reverse engineered MFD technology. The government will go to any lengths to protect this technology. The plasma, mercury based, is pressurized at 250,000 atmospheres at a temperature of 150 degrees Kelvin and accelerated to 50,000 rpm to create a super-conductive plasma with the resulting gravity disruption. The MFD generates a magnetic vortex field, which disrupts or neutralizes the effects of gravity on mass within proximity, by 89 percent. Do not misunderstand. This is not antigravity. Anti-gravity provides a repulsive force that can be used for propulsion. The MFD creates a disruption of the Earth's gravitational field upon the mass within the circular accelerator. The mass of the circular accelerator and all mass within the accelerator, such as the crew capsule, avionics, MFD systems, fuels, crew environmental systems, and the nuclear reactor, are reduced by 89%.This causes the effect of making the vehicle extremely light and able to outperform and outmaneuver any craft yet constructed--except, of course, those UFOs we did not build.

The TR-3B is a high altitude, stealth, reconnaissance platform with an indefinite loiter time. Once you get it up there at speed, it doesn’t take much propulsion to maintain altitude.At Groom Lake their have been whispered rumours of a new element that acts as a catalyst to the plasma.With the vehicle mass reduced by 89%, the craft can travel at Mach 9, vertically or horizontally. My sources say the performance is limited only the stresses that the human pilots can endure. Which is a lot, really, considering along with the 89% reduction in mass, the G forces are also reduced by 89%.

The TR-3Bs propulsion is provided by 3 multimode thrusters mounted at each bottom corner of the triangular platform. The TR-3 is a sub-Mach 9 vehicle until it reaches altitudes above l20,000 feet--then God knows how fast it can go!The 3 multimode rocket engines mounted under each corner of the craft use hydrogen or methane and oxygen as a propellent.In a liquid oxygen/hydrogen rocket system, 85% of the propellent mass is oxygen. The nuclear thermal rocket engine uses a hydrogen propellent, augmented with oxygen for additional thrust. The reactor heats the liquid hydrogen and injects liquid oxygen in the supersonic nozzle, so that the hydrogen burns concurrently in the liquid oxygen afterburner.The multimode propulsion system can; operate in the atmosphere, with thrust provided by the nuclear reactor, in the upper atmosphere, with hydrogen propulsion, and in orbit, with the combined hydrogen oxygen propulsion.

What you have to remember is, that the 3 rocket engines only have to propel 11 percent of the mass of the Top Secret TR-3B. The engines are reportedly built by Rockwell.Many sightings of triangular UFOs are not alien vehicles but the top secret TR-3B. The NSA, NRO, CIA, and USAF have been playing a shell game with aircraft nomenclature - creating the TR-3, modified to the TR-3A, the TR-3B, and the Teir 2, 3, and 4, with suffixes like Plus or Minus added on to confuse further the fact that each of these designators is a different aircraft and not the same aerospace vehicle. A TR-3B is as different from a TR-3A as a banana is from a grape. Some of these vehicles are manned and others are unmanned.