noamineo

That 3 to 8 minutes was based on the closest distance, I believe(if I am remembering my research correctly) under the best of all possible conditions it can be as little as 3-4 minutes, and at worst closer to your 22-23. My statement of 3-8 was based on a very rough ballpark assuming they arrive when conditions are best and staye for around 3 months. From a narrative standpoint, 1 minute is the same as 20 or 30. Basically, if real-time contact is not possible, it doesn't really matter what the exact duration of the delay is, I still have to write around "Some time passed while they waited for a response." While it would certainly be fun to get all of the fine details textbook-accurate, I don't think enough readers will appreciate it. Just getting a rough approximation of the time-delay should be good.

I don't want to try to get into wormholes, just a bit too far out there to fit into my "our technology, but maybe a few steps ahead" setting. Same goes for quantum entanglement. Some of the technology I'm using might not work well in practice but it at least works on paper. That's more or less the bar we're trying to cross, here. If its the sort of thing that doesn't actually work then I don't want to use it. Thanks for the replies! I will work around the time-delay for the sake of realism.

Not technically a homework question, but I thought this would be as good a place as any to ask. I'm a science fiction writer working on a new novel that centers around a near-future manned mission to mars. I've been attempting to make it as realistic as possible, but I've hit a bit of a snag. As you know, current technology does not allow for real-time communications with a ship in orbit around Mars, according to my research at best you'd get about a 3 to 8 minute time delay. While I could work around this if I had to, I'd actually really like to have real-time communications. Now as I said, this is near-future, so I am allowed some technological leeway, but for my purposes I need something that is at least plausible and scientifically sound. So, is there anything in the world of science today that could possibly lead to faster-than-light communications in say the next ten or twenty years? At least some concept that doesn't just spit in the face of our current understanding of physics?