NASA working on Warp Drives - FTL Speeds looking possible

[howdydiddlydoo]

In 1994, Miguel Alcubierre published a paper showing how faster than light travel appeared possible by using local contraction and expansion of metric space. The problem was that it required more energy than was possible to gather.

A few months ago Harold White discovered a way to re-produce the same faster than light speeds using much less energy, making faster than light speed a plausible reality. Work has now begun building tiny warp drives to prove it works.

Inter-galactic space travel within all our life-times is looking like it will become a reality.


http://io9.com/5963263/how-nasa-will...rst-warp-drive

[Shadee]

America will surely be the first to go faster than light. USA #1.

[semaphore]

Already had a thread on this when it was announced.

Inter-galactic space travel within all our life-times is looking like it will become a reality.

No, at this stage it's mostly hype.

[Rukentuts]

Relativity is a scientific law now? Or is this article poorly written?

[Deleted]

America will surely be the first to go faster than light. USA #1.

Or Russia, or China

[semaphore]

Relativity is a scientific law now? Or is this article poorly written?

It's a article hyping NASA building a warp drive so...

[Deleted]

We're all going to die on this rock.

[bloodkin]

technically, it's still not faster than light, as you are moving the space around you and not yourself, thus making it still possible for light that moves with you to move faster than you, it's closer to teleporting than it is to actual physically moving from A to B. (funny side note: the space ship in Futurama also uses this technology).

[apluscarp]

The article stated that speeds up to 10 times the speed of light were possible, this is too slow for true inter-galactic travel, and barely fast enough to travel to nearby stars.

[Laize]

Wasn't the Alcubierre drive dismissed because it would take far more energy than originally predicted?

Or was it deemed plausible because it would take far LESS energy than originally predicted. I can't remember.

Either way I DO remember it would cause a cone of total devastation in front of it wherever it went, and the farther it went the more destructive the cone.

---------- Post added 2013-01-06 at 05:01 PM ----------

The article stated that speeds up to 10 times the speed of light were possible, this is too slow for true inter-galactic travel, and barely fast enough to travel to nearby stars.

The Alcubierre Drive has no theoretical speed limit.

In fact, the way it works is by standing still and warping space around it. 10 times the speed of light might be what's possible with today's energy capacities, but not a theoretical limit.

[Roose]

America would be in orbit in no time if we said that aliens had weapons of mass destruction.

[Laize]

America would be in orbit in no time if we said that aliens had weapons of mass destruction.

In orbit? WMDs? We'd be occupying their home planet while Treyarch made "Call of Duty: Rigel 3" games if the CIA said the Rigelians had aluminum tubes.

[semaphore]

Or was it deemed plausible because it would take far LESS energy than originally predicted. I can't remember.

Someone published a paper describing how to reduce the energy requirement so that you don't need to consume the entire Solar system. Then news outlets started hyping it, but it's still not plausible at this stage.

[Laize]

Someone published a paper describing how to reduce the energy requirement so that you don't need to consume the entire Solar system. Then news outlets started hyping it, but it's still not plausible at this stage.

Ah ok. I realize it's ridiculously far off.

I don't believe anyone has managed to solve the problem of the potentially planet-busting destructo-beam such a drive would generate, though.

EDIT: It seems the destruction the drive would generate would be limited to high-intensity gamma-ray bursts (Which would, however, be enough to incinerate the population on a planet).

[Shadee]

America would be in orbit in no time if we said that aliens had weapons of mass destruction.

We do have weapons in orbit now. What do you think astronauts do up there? We can destroy other countries ICBMs over their own air space. America FTW!!!

[Deleted]

Ah ok. I realize it's ridiculously far off.

I don't believe anyone has managed to solve the problem of the potentially planet-busting destructo-beam such a drive would generate, though.

EDIT: It seems the destruction the drive would generate would be limited to high-intensity gamma-ray bursts (Which would, however, be enough to incinerate the population on a planet).

you don't think you can approach a planet with a different angle?... or drop out of FTL near the planet, not facing the planet head on. wichever suits you best

[semaphore]

you don't think you can approach a planet with a different angle?... or drop out of FTL near the planet, not facing the planet head on. wichever suits you best

It's a bit of a problem for the future. The question now is how do you actually build a ship with this? Because you kinda still need unobtainium to build the stuff physically (as opposed to mathematical model).

[Deleted]

you don't think you can approach a planet with a different angle?... or drop out of FTL near the planet, not facing the planet head on. wichever suits you best

But that would require maths!

[howdydiddlydoo]

The work has already begun building the drive based on the theory.

The aim of the prototype is do deliver proof of concept and will (or will not) be achieved on a microscopic level.

If this is successful, i doubt it will be very long before a full sized prototype is ready for testing (and by that i mean within 20 years).

[Laize]

you don't think you can approach a planet with a different angle?... or drop out of FTL near the planet, not facing the planet head on. wichever suits you best

Here, have a scientific paper explaining the phenomenon.

It's not a little bit of gamma radiation. The further you go, the more particles you pick up and every particle becomes dangerously blueshifted. It would essentially be a small GRB from within a given solar system.

You can't just "aim it somewhere else" like you're venting steam. Not from what I've read anyway.