Chiron, here we come!!

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by Elok
So, the start and stop of the trip would effectively have normal Earth gravity for a little under a year, just on opposite surfaces of the ship? Fun.

You can accelerate halfway if you like. Then turn the ship around and decelerate the last half. The entire trip gets done at 1 g (in the same direction relative to the ship orientation) except for a brief turnabout period.

[snoopy369]

Although that takes even MORE fuel ...

Perhaps they can send a refueling pod from Jupiter or something to meet them en route?

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Well then clearly we need ten of them on our hypothetical space ship

Adding engines means adding mass. The 0.1 g limitation would be in the limit that your spacecraft mass is composed entirely of ion engines. Adding more won't make it go faster than that.

[snoopy369]

I know That was why the "clearly" and the ...

/me reads enough REAL SF to know these things

[snoopy369]

By the way, Michael Flynn has a great series based on the OP's premise, give or take ... "Firestar", "Rogue Star", etc. Quite good.

[KrazyHorse]

Originally posted by snoopy369
Although that takes even MORE fuel ...

Perhaps they can send a refueling pod from Jupiter or something to meet them en route?

That wouldn't really help. They pass Jupiter in 5 days at 1 g acceleration. 2 weeks at 0.1 g.

[Victor Galis]

Well, even at .1g acceleration, the trip could be made within a human lifetime. They really should start builing a small unmanned probe with ion engines and the capability to transmit info back

[Zoid]

Originally posted by KrazyHorse

Obviously some form of protective gear must be developed to shield the colonists from the g-force, otherwise I think the start and stop part of the journey will take too long...

The above is a demonstration of why it's better to profess your ignorance (as Elok has done) rather than make bold, wrong assertions (particularly those which begin with a word like "obviously")

At a constant 1g proper acceleration, our hypothetical spaceship reaches 0.9c after ~312 days (Earth time). Slightly less proper time. If it then cuts out its engines and coasts it would fly past the Centaurus system in another 4 years or so (Earth time). ~ 1.8 years proper time. If it were to again decelerate and come to a stop in Centaurus the whole trip would take ~5.3 years (Earth time) or ~4 years (proper time)

Ouch! As they say it´s better to be thought of as an idiot than to open your mouth and remove all doubts...

[Elok]

Originally posted by Zoid
Ouch! As they say it´s better to be thought of as an idiot than to open your mouth and reveal all doubts...

Yes, that's generally my strategery as well.

[Zoid]

Nitpicker

[Impaler[WrG]]

Remove not reveal (darn Elok beat me too it)

Anti-Matter would be cool if we actualy had a method of creating it at somthing less then a billion dollars a gram

I think the most likly means humans would leave the solar system would be som kind of nuclear fission or fusion based rocket combined with suspended animation (not suprizing just what was used in SMAC) Ofcorse this wont happen untill their has been considerable buildup of space infastructure and experience on planets such as mars and the moon. I'd guestimate another hundred years baring a major economic collapse or world war.