High speed projectiles

In TML message (2694) High Speed Projectiles, Scott Kellog writes:

>Time to go over the 1/10C projectile again...
>
>Scout Ship has accel of 2 G's.  As such it will reach 1/10 speed of
light
>in (oops don't have my calculator...)  approx 5 days (?)  at which
point
>you toss your one cubic centimeter lead pellets out the airlock.

...

>If you use a 1 G Free trader multiply the time reqired by 2.  A damn
cheap
>doomsday weapon if you ask me.

velocity = acceleration * time.

1 g = 9.8 m/s^2
c   = 3e8 m/s

thus at 1 g it takes a bit over 354 *days* to reach c (ignoring
relativistic effects). A good "rule of thumb" is that c is 1 g for 1
year.

So 1/10th c takes 35 days at 1 g, 18 days at 2 g. This is noticeably
above the "one week at full thrust" "rule" I recall from original
Traveller. Also note that you will need *double* this, as you have to
slow down *sometime*! Doesn't MegaTrav have a "one month's fuel" figure
used in designs? Looks like you need *at least* a 3 g ship to do it.

Oh yes, at this speed your tau factor is .995 :-)

to reach 1/10th c
accel	time 		distance
1	35 days		4.6e10 km
2	18 days		2.3e10 km
3	12 days		1.5e10 km
4	 9 days		1.1e10 km
5	 7 days		9.2e09 km
6	 6 days 	7.7e09 km