Why we will always be alone, even if we're not
Select a destination and propulsion system to calculate your journey.
Spoiler: The universe is very, very big.
| Star | Distance | Type |
|---|---|---|
| The Moon | 384,400 km | Natural Satellite |
| Venus | 41.4 million km | Terrestrial Planet |
| Mars | 225.0 million km | Terrestrial Planet |
| Jupiter | 628.7 million km | Gas Giant |
| Saturn | 1.3 billion km | Gas Giant |
| Uranus | 2.7 billion km | Ice Giant |
| Neptune | 4.4 billion km | Ice Giant |
| Pluto | 5.9 billion km | Dwarf Planet |
| Voyager 1 (current position) | 0.0 ly | Spacecraft |
| Oort Cloud (inner edge) | 0.03 ly | Cometary Cloud |
| Proxima Centauri | 4.25 ly | Red Dwarf (M5.5Ve) |
| Alpha Centauri A | 4.37 ly | Yellow Dwarf (G2V) |
| System | Velocity | Status |
|---|---|---|
| Ion Drive (Dawn spacecraft) | 11.0 km/s | Operational |
| Chemical Rocket (New Horizons) | 16.3 km/s | Operational |
| Chemical Rocket (Voyager-class) | 17.0 km/s | Operational |
| SpaceX Starship (Mars transit) | 22.0 km/s | In Development |
| Nuclear Thermal Rocket (NERVA-class) | 50.0 km/s | Tested Historically |
| Solar Sail (Near-Sun deployment) | 200.0 km/s | Demonstrated |
| Nuclear Pulse (Project Orion) | 3.34% of light speed | Theoretical (Banned) |
| Fusion Rocket (Project Daedalus) | 12.01% of light speed | Theoretical |
| Laser-Pushed Light Sail (Breakthrough Starshot) | 20.01% of light speed | Proposed |
| Antimatter Rocket (Theoretical) | 33.36% of light speed | Far Future |
| Bussard Ramjet (Interstellar) | 96.73% of light speed | Speculative |
This calculator uses real astronomical distances and physics-based propulsion velocities to illustrate the fundamental challenge of interstellar travel.
The universe doesn't care about our ambitions. It's just very, very large.