Simulating speed of light

[Las-pen]

Maybe this should go in mod requests, or science labs, idk

But would it be possible to simulate the speed of light. I don't mean FTL ships, but physics. You know, the light from our Sun reaches Earth in eight minutes, so the Sun we see now is actually Sun eight minutes ago. That kind of stuff. Nothing too fancy, ofc, to keep PCs from melting.

So when you look at, lets say Eeloo, from Kerbin (Distance roughly 4,25 light minutes (calculated from Eeloo's Semi-major axis and when the planets are on same side of the sun)), Eeloo is actually 4,25 minutes ahead than you see on Kerbin.

Your thoughts?

[merendel]

It would make sense if we were actually observing the various objects from kerbin's surface. However the only time you can really see the other planetary bodies from distances that would invoke meaningful FLT lag is in map view. Map view is already either a simulated map or a gods'eye view. I just think it would be kinda pointless and not add much value to gameplay. for example if you invoked FLT lag on the map view it would throw off intercept planing unless you mathed things out by hand. However even in RL we plan interplanetary travel off where our simulations and models of the solar system says the planets are, not where the apparent, time laged visual is so its more logical to consider map mode a simulated solar system anyway.

About the only time I could see this simulation as makeing any meaningful change is if you were runing the distant objects enhancement pack so you could see the distant planets easier. even then all it would do is shift them a fraction of a degree one way or another on the starfield. Sounds like alot of effort for an effect you'd never notice without a side by side comparison.

[Las-pen]

Maybe the location of planets could be calculated from where the ship is, not where the camera is (which would be pretty trippy to scroll in and/or out really fast). You leave Kerbin in FTL speeds and watch the planet go backwards in its orbit.

Let's stirr the soup a little bit and take Einstein's Relativity theory in consideration. The faster thing goes and the closer they are to a massive object the slower they age. Don't know what the game would gain, since kerbals don't age, but maybe it would affect missions running on background somehow. You launch a mission, set a course to Jool and return to space centre to do a quick Münlanding while the first one reaches its destination and then notice that time goes at different speed to the deep space mission than the mün mission.

[HorusKol]

I think the fastest I've been in KSP (admittedly, only to get to Eve and Duna) is on the order of 10,000 m/s (give or take 10,000 m/s)

Speed of light is 299792458 m/s

So, I've travelled at about 0.003% of the speed of light

From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Relativistic_speed - relativistic speed is a speed which is a significant proportion of the speed of light

It then states that this is at about 10% of the speed of light - which is 30,000 time faster than

You're not going to see much in the way of relativistic effect unless you burn a long, long time...

[Aegrim]

On my phone so can't link, but have you looked at the satellite network mod? That simulates signal travel time across your network.

[SorryDave]

I do not know how long it takes Eeloo to circle the sun, but a position difference of 4.25 minutes in the orbit would not be noticeable. As a rough guess, much less than 0.01 degrees.

[Las-pen]

On my phone so can't link, but have you looked at the satellite network mod? That simulates signal travel time across your network.

The Gps-mod. I was wondering whether it did something with speed if light

[magnemoe]

This would only be noticable if you observe moons from far away, you can calculate the speed of light by the delay in moons movement then the planet is close or far from kerbin.

It was done real life with Jupiters moons, jupiters moons has been used for synchronizing clocks during the age of exploration.

[Aegrim]

The Gps-mod. I was wondering whether it did something with speed if light

I remember now, it was called Remote tech.

[Mesons]

Even if it was possible to get up to relativistic speeds without going to the most extreme of extremes (or the debug menu), simulating relativity in KSP would be completely impossible unless you wanted to pilot one vessel and one vessel only, ever. This isn't for modeling/programming reasons, it's because of time dilation. Time passes differently for the ship moving at a significant fraction of the speed of light than it does for a station orbiting Kerbin or at KSC. The kerbolar system would also appear flattened to the fast vessel, and that would probably be pretty tough to get right. It would all pass by in the blink of an eye moving at relativistic speeds, anyway.

Honestly, as much as I like for things to have realistic physics, I think KSP is much better without. If there is eventually another stellar system put in, there may end up being relativistic effects of some sort to include, but I don't see it improving the gameplay at all.

[sedativechunk]

Scott Manley did an interesting video on the speed of light and KSP, you should look it up.