How long is the trip?
Travel time is just distance divided by speed. Space distances are so vast that everyday speeds give absurd answers: driving to the Moon at highway speed would take about 160 days nonstop, and reaching the Sun the same way would take over 170 years. Picking a destination and a speed makes those scales tangible.
Why the stars are out of reach
Even the fastest object humans have built, the Parker Solar Probe, would need tens of thousands of years to reach the nearest star. The note shows your speed as a fraction of light speed, which makes clear why interstellar travel needs entirely new physics or enormous patience.
Just for curiosity
This is a back-of-the-envelope tool that ignores acceleration, gravity and orbital motion — planets don't sit still. Use it to picture cosmic distances and speeds, not to plan a mission.
Frequently asked questions
How long to drive to the Moon?
At 100 km/h nonstop, about 160 days to cover the average 384,400 km.
Does it account for acceleration?
No. It assumes a constant speed, so it's an approximation for curiosity rather than a real trajectory.
How long would it take to reach the nearest star?
Proxima Centauri is about 4.24 light-years away — roughly 40 trillion km. Even at 10% of light speed, an impossible pace today, the trip would take over 42 years; at the speed of our fastest current probes it would take tens of thousands of years.
How long does it take to get to Mars?
With current spacecraft — around 20,000 km/h on average — Mars takes about 7 to 9 months, depending on how the planets line up. Enter the distance and a speed to see the trip time for any pace.
Why can't we just travel at the speed of light?
Nothing with mass can reach light speed — it would take infinite energy. The calculator lets you enter a fraction of light speed to see how even 1% or 10% still leaves interstellar trips measured in years or centuries.