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jonathanpay
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Calculating travel time to the edge of a star system

Mon 01 Apr 2019, 11:12

"Interplanetary distances are measured in Astronomical Units (AU). The distance between two planets is calculated like this:
◆ SHORTEST DISTANCE: The difference between the planets’ individual distances from the sun.
◆ FARTHEST DISTANCE: The sum of the planets’ individual distances from the sun.
◆ Divide the distance in AU by the spaceship’s speed to get the travel time (in number of days)."

There is a map of the Kua system, which helps visualise this, but for somewhere like Dabaran, the setting for Dark Flowers, there is no map nor planetary descriptions. Should it be taken then that the 2 months of silence from the Shamza is because it takes that long to get out there? So if comms were broken shortly after arrival the best the Foundation/Institute could do was send someone else out there to arrive 2 months later? That's about 60 AU, and about 16 hours of comms delay? So if The Shamza arrived, was in comms but was cut off it would be at least 16 hours+ to establish that something went wrong and sent out a follow up party - at least 61 days for effective response from the Shamza's POV?
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