Interstellar Travel Faces Communication Hurdles with Light-Speed Spaceships
A new analysis explores the challenges of communicating with a spacecraft traveling close to the speed of light. As a spaceship approaches the speed of light, messages from Earth will no longer be able to reach it, leaving the craft out of contact. Additionally, time dilation effects mean that a spaceship accelerating at 1g could reach the center of the galaxy in just 20 years and the edge of the visible universe in 45 years. The study suggests that interstellar spacecraft and their crews would need to accept highly autonomous operations and abandon the notion of maintaining continuous communication with Earth or the destination throughout the mission.