In 2095 a message arrives at earth from from the growing colony at Tau Ceti (11.
ID: 1511291 • Letter: I
Question
In 2095 a message arrives at earth from from the growing colony at Tau Ceti (11.3 y from earth). The message asks for help in combating a virus that is making people seriously ill (the message includes a complete description of the viral genome). Using advanced technology available on earth, scientists are quickly able to construct a drug that prevents the virus from reproducing. You have to decide how much of the drug can be sent to Tau Ceti. The space probes available on short notice could either boost 200 g of drug (in a standard enclosure) to a speed of 0.95, 1 kg to a speed of 0.90, 5 kg to a speed of 0.80, or 20 kg to a speed of 0.60 relative to the earth. The only problem is that a sample of the drug in a standard enclosure at rest in the laboratory is observed to degrade due to internal chemical processes at a rate that will make it useless after 5.0 y. Is it possible to send the drug to Tau Ceti? If so, how much can you send?
Explanation / Answer
minimum time taken = 1.0691 * 1017/(0.95 * 3 * 108)
= 3.751 * 108 sec
= 11.89 years
=> It is greater than rate that will make it useless after 5.0 y .
=> it is not possible to send the drug to Tau Ceti .