# NASA/JPL (?) Web page showing fuel needed to attain .99 C
**URL:** https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-jpl-web-page-showing-fuel-needed-to-attain-99-c/459171
**Category:** Factual Questions
**Created:** [August 7, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-jpl-web-page-showing-fuel-needed-to-attain-99-c/459171 "2008-08-07T14:57:24Z")
**Posts on this page:** 5
**Page:** 1
### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2008, 2:57pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-jpl-web-page-showing-fuel-needed-to-attain-99-c/459171/1 "2008-08-07T14:57:24Z")
Or something like that—if I could remember more about the page, I’d have better luck finding it (assuming it’s still up).
There was a page that addressed the difficulty of attaining speeds that were a significant percent of the speed of light. It was interesting in that it approached it pragmatically and with simple illustrations. I’m don’t remember what the numbers/analogies worked out to be, but as a made-up example, they said if you wanted to use chemical fuel, you’d need X Saturn V rockets’ worth of fuel or Y tanker trucks. The page described a few other propulsion methods, and explained why it would take gobs of time to reach even a small fraction of C.
Does this sound familiar to anyone here?
Thanks,
Rhythm
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2008, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-jpl-web-page-showing-fuel-needed-to-attain-99-c/459171/2 "2008-08-07T15:40:16Z")
I’ve never seen the page, but the calculations are easy enough (with a few assumptions regarding payload and tankage weight); it’s just the rocket equation with some relativisitic corrections as you get up in the major fractions of **c**.
Stranger
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2008, 6:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-jpl-web-page-showing-fuel-needed-to-attain-99-c/459171/3 "2008-08-07T18:28:10Z")
heh… easy for you to say. Or is that, easy for you, you say?
The page was pretty interesting, in that it had a lot of different calculations – not just Saturn V rockets, but tanker trucks and the like. It also went into some of the time scales involved in achieving Ludicrous Speed, and explored alternate propulsion technologies.
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### Author:  [@Rhythmdvl](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rhythmdvl)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2008, 6:39pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-jpl-web-page-showing-fuel-needed-to-attain-99-c/459171/4 "2008-08-07T18:39:20Z")
Shoot… just missed the edit window~
They were graphics like [this](http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/images/content/84505main_warp04.gif) and [this](http://www.nasa.gov/centers/glenn/images/content/84509main_warp06.gif) on [this](http://www.nasa.gov/lb/centers/glenn/research/warp/scales_prt.htm) type of page. That one is very close, and could very well be an updated version of the same information. Ringing any bells? I’ve been trying to find it again for a looonnng time (not long enough to have actually reached a star, but almost), but no luck—this is actually the closest I’ve come in a while.
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### Author:  [@Stranger\_On\_A\_Train](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Stranger_On_A_Train)
#### Post date: [August 7, 2008, 6:41pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/nasa-jpl-web-page-showing-fuel-needed-to-attain-99-c/459171/5 "2008-08-07T18:41:44Z")
[Here](http://www.grc.nasa.gov/WWW/bpp/) is NASA’s Breakthrough Propulsion Physics program page, and [another one](http://www.nasa.gov/vision/space/travelinginspace/future_propulsion.html) on proposed and developing propulsion systems. You might dig around here and see if you can find it.
Stranger