Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say

SPACE.com ^ | 2012-09-17 | Clara Moskowitz

[justlurking]

A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel — a concept popularized in television's Star Trek — may not be as unrealistic as once thought, scientists say.

A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster than light. A concept for a real-life warp drive was suggested in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre, however subsequent calculations found that such a device would require prohibitive amounts of energy.

Now physicists say that adjustments can be made to the proposed warp drive that would enable it to run on significantly less energy, potentially bringing the idea back from the realm of science fiction into science.

"There is hope," Harold "Sonny" White of NASA's Johnson Space Center said here Friday (Sept. 14) at the 100 Year Starship Symposium, a meeting to discuss the challenges of interstellar spaceflight.

[Pontiac]

There is no such thing as an immovable object in space.

Or anywhere else.

Yes I realize that. And of course for some people there is no such thing as humor.

[Condor51]

Oh, we only need some "exotic material". Okey-Dokey then, nooooo problem.

But series, IMHO I think they should approach Space Travel and traveling at 'warp speed' as if we were Socks and our Space Ship was a HUGH clothes Dryer.

After all if a mere sock can disappear - passing through the space-time continuum to God only knows where - why not us. Just build HUGH Clothes Dryers, climb in, set to 'gentle', hit the switch, and be done with it. Off we go!

Sorry for hitting the thread late. I was working on my Cold Fusion Reactor in the garage. Almost done with it, just have to finish soldering the Flux Capacitor and wring it in. Plus a 1/2 pound of Plutonium Oxide crystals but that's no biggie -- I'm checking Craigslist for that.

[Vaquero]

its these Klingon crystals.....we're boned!

[TheOldLady]

So, that whole “inertial dampeners” thing is straight out the window? Perhaps they would still be useful (with some performance improvements) in case of an attack by aliens on our starship?

Every time the Enterprise is hit with a phaser, the bridge crew gets tossed around, or at least jostled as in “Next Generation,” and the inertial dampeners fail miserably even though they work great for warp acceleration.

Just sayin’. ;-)

[freedumb2003]

>>According to my initial calculations, the astronaut’s skull and his rectum would trade places.<<

He would become a democrat?

[freedumb2003]

>>According to my initial calculations, the astronaut’s skull and his rectum would trade places.<<

He would become a democrat?

[Pontiac]

I guess I can understand skimming around an object depending on your trajectory being anything less than a bull’s eye.

But having a star or black hole directly in your path seems to be inescapable death to me at any speed.

[Dead Corpse]

Could be. I'm thinking of these "fields" as if they were soap bubbles. The analogy brakes down a bit around the edges, but the over-all idea is still illustrative.

Think of the space/time "bubble" as a gravity based version of the meniscus of the soap bubble. As the energy of the artificial vs natural space/time meet, one should react to the other. Same thing with opposing magnetic fields. The strong and more direct the interaction, the more one will over power the other. Absent that, they just kind of "slide" around each other.

[tet68]

So, that whole “inertial dampeners” thing is straight out the window?

As anyone who has put a dry diaper on a baby can tell you.

[Dead Corpse]

Not necessarily. If you can manipulate the space/time field around your ship to get you from point A to point B, you should also be able to sue that same field as both a defensive shield and an offensive weapon.

Warp the space around you and weapons fire slides right around you. Make that edge as highly defined as you can and slam it in to an opponent causing high density gravity sheer through the middle of their ship/station/orbital weapons platform.

If you get hit, you get hit. You are going to bounce around.

Sci-fi Author Greg Bear, in his book Anvil of the Stars, took string/field theory a notch higher by assuming that fields could literally "hold" atoms in place. Even to he point of flipping matter to anti-matter, high speed acceleration, etc... If we can "warp" space/time, the next step would be something along those lines...

[skinkinthegrass]

So, that whole “inertial dampeners” thing is straight out the window?
Perhaps they would still be useful (with some performance improvements) in case of an attack by aliens on our starship? according to the script; it's a localized.. just on the edges.. not to worry.
yah gotta fixs within an hour or it becomes a movie or mini-series. (horror! :)

[Turbopilot]

Cool, but since we’re not doing any exploring with our current proven existing technology, I’m not sure what makes anybody think we’ll do any with hypothetical potential future technology. I wish it were otherwise.

[Unrepentant VN Vet]

...since we’re not doing any exploring with our current proven existing technology...

Please remember that NASA ain't the only damn place that engineers can sit around and play with ideas.....

....and this one's just about goofy enough to be REAL fun.

[TheOldLady]

You folks are the best. You make me laugh, and you make me think.

Dead corpse, your answer is a bit beyond me, but it sounds very interesting as well.

It makes me think you can actually do it. Making space move past your starship sounds good to me.

[BenLurkin]

Even better!

[UCANSEE2]

And of course for some people there is no such thing as humor.

Well... I was laughing when I read your comment.

: )

[ETL]

[ETL]

Since the craft itself wouldn’t actually be traveling through space at faster than light speeds, but rather the manipulation of space-time around it, I wonder if there would be any time travel implications here?

[ETL]

...in other words, should the craft ever return to Earth, or was able to, at some point, communicate with Earth, would there be a significant time difference between the craft and Earth, during or following the journey.

[headsonpikes]

Short answer is “No”.