d20 Modern :: Future :: Traveler Science :: Realistic Space Travel

REALISTIC TRAVEL TIMES

Table: Realistic Travel Times provides various "realistic" interplanetary and interstellar travel times. These times assume that starships cannot achieve velocities anywhere near the speed of light, for reasons discussed under Interstellar Travel (see above). Using the table, a starship equipped with a PL 6 ion engine would take 67.2 days to travel from Earth to Mars, while the same ship equipped with a PL 7 induction engine would take 16.8 days.
The travel times listed are based on average distance. Planets move closer together and farther apart based on their relative orbits around the sun, and the travel time between worlds may increase or decrease accordingly.
Table: Realistic Travel Times
-------------- Time to Destination --------------
Distance
PL 5 Engine
PL 6 Engine
PL 7 Engine
PL 8 Engine1
PL 9 Engine2
Light Speed
Earth to the Moon
(240,000 mi.)
40 hrs.
8 hrs.
2 hrs.
1.96 min.
9.2 sec.
1.29 sec.
Earth to the Sun (1 AU)
(93,000,000 mi.)
645.8 days
129.2 days
32.3 days
12.6 hrs.
59.3 min.
8.3 min.
Earth to Mercury
(56,950,000 mi.)
395.5 days
79.1 days
19.8 days
7.7 hrs.
36.4 min.
5.1 min.
Earth to Venus
(26,040,000 mi.)
180.8 days
36.2 days
9.04 days
3.5 hrs.
16.6 min.
2.33 min.
Earth to Mars
(48,360,000 mi.)
335.8 days
67.2 days
16.8 days
6.6 hrs.
30.7 min.
4.3 min.
Earth to Jupiter
(390,600,000 mi.)
7.43 years
1.49 years
135.6 days
2.2 days
4.2 hrs.
35 min.
Earth to Saturn
(704,940,000 mi.)
13.4 years
2.68 years
244.8 days
4 days
7.5 hrs.
63.2 min.
Earth to Uranus
(1,687,020,000 mi.)
32.1 years
6.42 years
1.6 years
9.5 days
18 hrs.
2.52 hrs.
Earth to Neptune
(2,715,600,000 mi.)
51.67 years
10.33 years
2.58 years
15.4 days
1.2 days
4.1 min.
Earth to Pluto
(3,574,920,000 mi.)
68.02 years
13.6 years
3.4 years
20.2 days
1.6 days
5.33 min.
1 light year
(5,865,696,000,000 mi.)
111,600 years
22,320 years
5,580 years
91 years
7.14 years
1 year
Sun to Alpha Centauri
(4.4 light years)
491,040 years
98,208 years
24,552 years
400 years
31.4 years
4.4 years
1 A PL 8 engine can achieve a speed of 2,046 miles per second (1.1% of the speed of light).
2 A PL 9 engine can achieve a speed of 26,040 miles per second (14% of the speed of light).
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