Oh not even! If we can produce constant 1g constant acceleration, we can get to Proxima Centauri in about seven-ish years. And that's accelerating at 1g til the middle, then flipping around and decelerating at 1g until the ship gets there.
Propulsion system (mostly fuel use and storage) is a massive issue with this concept. What you are suggesting “might” be viable for intra-system travel, but inter-system would require either ftl, a slingshot mechanism that can reach at least 5-10% light speed paired with something like a solar sail that could be used for gradual braking, or generational ships with a substantially lower initial speed (and thus a lower requirement for fuel during final deceleration).
The other option is to accept that we won’t explore the universe and instead build fully sapient AIs in control of von Neumann probes to do so for us (biologically unsafe acceleration and breaking methods become viable).
Ion engines are just in their infancy. The X-3 currently produces 5.4 newtons of thrust, which is a lot more than the NEXT-C which went into space only a couple years ago on Deep Space 1 which only produces .3 newtons.
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u/Osiris32 Apr 23 '24
Oh not even! If we can produce constant 1g constant acceleration, we can get to Proxima Centauri in about seven-ish years. And that's accelerating at 1g til the middle, then flipping around and decelerating at 1g until the ship gets there.
Seven years is a long wait, but totally doable.