UFO Travel Calculator

Your details

Interstellar uses relativistic physics; Atmospheric compares propulsion systems over real city routes.
Choose the unit for the journey distance.
Distance to the destination. Proxima Centauri is 4.24 light-years away.
Spacecraft speed as a fraction of the speed of light. 0.5 = half the speed of light. Must be below 1.
Rest mass of the spacecraft in kilograms. Used to calculate relativistic kinetic energy.
kg
Lorentz factor (gamma)Strongly relativistic
1.1547

Relativistic scaling factor. Higher = more time dilation and more energy needed.

Earth time8.48years
Ship (crew) time7.344years
Time dilation1.136years
Kinetic energy139,037.882PJ
Speed149,896.2km/s
1.1547 gamma
Sub-relativistic<1.05Mildly relativistic1.05-1.5Strongly relativistic1.5-3Ultra-relativistic3+
Earth time (yr)8.48
Ship time (yr)7.344

Lorentz factor 1.155: the crew ages 7.34 years while 8.48 years pass on Earth.

  • At 50.0% of light speed, the Lorentz factor is 1.155: the crew experiences time 1.15x slower than observers on Earth.
  • The crew arrives 1.136 years younger than they would be if time passed at the same rate as on Earth.
  • The kinetic energy required is 139.0 exajoules - comparable to global energy consumption for 0 years.
  • No known propulsion technology can approach these speeds; this calculator models the physics of what would be required if such technology existed.

Next stepTry increasing the speed fraction toward 0.99 to see how time dilation grows rapidly near the speed of light.

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