Yeah, I thought 10% of light speed would be a realistic cap because of this. Apparently not, though. It's definitely an issue but apparently 20% is not unrealistic.
Despite Boru's faith in my 'superior knowledge', I don't have figures for this that I can cite. I can only say that I recall reading a seemingly authoritative article making a case that collisions with space dust could be handled at relativistic speeds. I never had much interest in following it up because I see 10% of light speed as plenty fast enough for interstellar travel. It wouldn't be much fun for biologicals but workable. It wouldn't even be an issue for AI.
Despite Boru's faith in my 'superior knowledge', I don't have figures for this that I can cite. I can only say that I recall reading a seemingly authoritative article making a case that collisions with space dust could be handled at relativistic speeds. I never had much interest in following it up because I see 10% of light speed as plenty fast enough for interstellar travel. It wouldn't be much fun for biologicals but workable. It wouldn't even be an issue for AI.
Only two things are infinite, the universe and human stupidity, and I'm not sure about the former.
Albert Einstein
Albert Einstein
