On: Sending a spacecraft to Alpha Centauri

[Joakal]

Assuming there's no microscopic debris in space and it's pretty empty, wouldn't it be possible to accelerate faster than c relative to Earth and get there sooner in terms of body age? I mean gradual increase of acceleration, of course.

I understand that Earth will just see the ship time flow more slowly.

[prewett → Joakal]

You can't go faster than c from anyone's reference frame (that's why space and time contract, to prevent that).

"I understand that Earth will just see the ship time flow more slowly."

You have that reversed: Earth will see time same as usual, but time for you will slow down.

[johngalt → Joakal]

Lorentz factor only makes a large enough difference when you're very close to the speed of light.

Edit: changed from 'c' to 'the speed of light'

[Joakal → johngalt]

c, as in Earth's view of ship's speed?