How fast would a civilization with FTL spread out?

Let's say that a civilization has access to FTL. Let's say it is instantaneous so travel time between solar systems isn't a factor. How long would it take for them to spread out from their home solar system? Like how long would it take for them to colonize 1000, 10000 or 100000 solar systems?

Let's say we are talking about future humans. That when that technology was developed they have a population of around 10 billion. As for terraforming technology let's say it would take them a century to terraform Mars. How long it would then take to terraform other planets would be dependent on how different the planet is from earth. But colonizing a solar system doesn't necessarily mean terraforming a planet. It could be establishing space stations in that solar system for habitation or mining/research operations. Or they don't bother terraforming and live in dome habitats or underground cities. Or do that while terraforming. All these would count as colonizing a solar system.

posted almost 5 years ago

Jonas‭

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