Just another point of view follows.
Using 54,500,000 km as the shortest distance to Mars, see:
http://wiki.answers.com/Q/
What_is_the_shortest_distance_from_earth_to_mars
http://tinyurl.com/ygtgsqw
a ship would have to accelerate half the distance, 27.25 million km
and decelerate the other half. Assuming acceleration is 1g and
ignoring relatively small adjustments due to the 17.5 km/s difference
in earth vs Mars speed, we have:
d = (1/2) g t^2
t = (2 d/g)^0.5 = (2 * 27.25x10^6 km/g)^0.5 = 7.45548x10^4 s
to go half way, and thus 1.491x10^5 s to go the full distance, or
about 42 hours. Peak velocity Pv would be about:
Pv = g t = 1.462x10^6 m/s, or 1,462 km/s, or about 3.27 million
miles an hour.
The model by which the device is said to work looks bogus. I think if
they knew why and how it actually works they could produce a much
better W/a ratio. The device applies force to vacuum elements.
Their theory predicts a change in acceleration with velocity. I think
this is nonsense. Either the device doesn't work at all in space or
its thrust, as perceived by the occupants, does not vary with velocity.
A 1 g device should be able to accelerate right on beyond c, and thus
go anywhere in the universe. The occupants would feel the 1 g
acceleration though, and that is a good thing.
The time to light speed T2 at 1 g is:
T2 = c/g = 3.057x10^7 s = 0.968735 years = about 11 months 20 days
I have no idea what this might mean in terms of what would happen if
they should hit some atoms along the way though, as the atom apparent
mass might be infinite. Also, the mass presented to the incoming
atoms would be infinite. A practical case of the irresistible force
and the immovable object paradox?
Best regards,
Horace Heffner
http://www.mtaonline.net/~hheffner/
