---
title: "Video Shows NASA’s Bizarre Guide to Near-Light-Speed Travel"
description: "NASA recently put out a weird little cartoon that introduces kids to surprisingly complex topics like special relativity and the scale of the universe."
date: "2020-08-21"
modified: "2020-08-21"
authors:
  - name: "Dan Robitzski"
    link: "https://futurism.com/authors/danrobitzski"
url: "https://futurism.com/the-byte/nasa-guide-light-speed-travel"
categories:
  - "NASA"
  - "Physics"
  - "Science & Energy"
  - "Space"
tags:
  - "NASA"
  - "physics"
  - "space"
  - "the digest"
---

# Video Shows NASA’s Bizarre Guide to Near-Light-Speed Travel

![NASA recently put out a weird little cartoon that introduces kids to surprisingly complex topics like special relativity and the scale of the universe.](<https://futurism.com/wp-content/uploads/2020/08/nasa-guide-light-speed-travel.jpg>)
*\<em\>Image: NASA\</em\>*

## Instruction Manual

Last week, NASA put out an [adorably bizarre cartoon](<https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4u4wV_dOi0>) that explains some of the trials and tribulations of near-light-speed travel.

The video, which looks like the sort of safety presentation that teaches you how to use the seatbelt on a ride at Disney World, is surprisingly informative. It's basically a brief, digestible primer on advanced concepts [like special relativity](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/star-moving-fast-warps-spacetime>) and the incomprehensible scale of the universe.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=l4u4wV_dOi0

## Brushing Up

The video doesn't get too far into the weeds of the actual science behind the concepts it introduces, but it would be silly to expect calculus from a kid-friendly educational video featuring a smiling alien planning their cosmic vacation.

But even without getting into the why, a kid will walk away from the video knowing some pretty bizarre facts. For instance, the video explains how the [funkiness of time dilation](<https://futurism.com/thanks-to-time-dilation-earths-core-is-2-5-years-younger-than-its-surface>) means that during a near-light-speed journey, less time will pass for the traveler than will for an observer who stayed back home.

## Long Wait

The video also dispels the sci-fi notion of reaching light speed and instantly reaching your destination. As the video mentions, it would more than a day of travel at 90 percent the speed of light just to reach the boundaries of our own solar system.

In all, it's a goofy, fun little short — and it's commendable how it introduces ideas that would-be scientists might not otherwise hear about until college.

*Editor's note 8/21/2020: This story originally misstated the time it takes for light to travel to the boundaries of our solar system. It has been corrected.*

**More on special relativity:** *[This Star Is Moving So Fast It Visibly Warps Spacetime](<https://futurism.com/the-byte/star-moving-fast-warps-spacetime>)*

## Author
Dan Robitzki is a senior reporter for Futurism, where he likes to cover AI, tech ethics, and medicine. He spends his extra time fencing and streaming games from Los Angeles, California.

### Author social links  
[Twitter](<https://x.com/danrobitzski>)