Imagine yourself in a future where technology has advance such that we can travel near the speed of light. The starship Explorer travels at 99.5% the speed of light (LaTeX: \gamma\:=\:10γ = 10). You are the top science officer on at trip to Trappist-1 star system which contains 7 Earth like planets! Trapist-1 is 40 light years away. The Explorer reaches max speed at launch and you measure the distance to Trapist-1. What distance will you measure?
How long will it take you to get there?
Once you arrive you send at a radio wave signal back to Earth, how long will it take for them to receive it?
You spend 4 years exploring the system and return back to Earth at the same speed.
How much total time will your mission have taken according to the people on Earth?
What is your favorite part of Einstein's theory of relativity?