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Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
SPACE.com ^ | 2012-09-17 | Clara Moskowitz

Posted on 09/17/2012 10:28:10 AM PDT by 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.

(Excerpt) Read more at news.yahoo.com ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; Technical; US: Texas
KEYWORDS: aerospace; alcubierre; alcubierredrive; ftl; haroldgwhite; haroldsonnywhite; nasa; stringtheory; warpdrive
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To: catfish1957
Count me in if there is a Vulcan on the ship named T’Pol.

Nope, I get to rub the decontamination gel on any hot female science officers.

61 posted on 09/17/2012 12:07:50 PM PDT by justlurking (The only remedy for a bad guy with a gun is a good WOMAN (Sgt. Kimberly Munley) with a gun)
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To: Las Vegas Ron
What about the effects on the human body during acceleration/deceleration?

Inertial dampening takes care of this - hello??!!
8^)

62 posted on 09/17/2012 12:08:09 PM PDT by jonno (Having an opinion is not the same as having the answer...)
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To: okkev68
Ok, but what happens to everybody and everything between NYC and Nashville. There has to be some consequence to bending space.

Well.... you have to break a few eggs to make an omelette.

63 posted on 09/17/2012 12:08:41 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 ( If you think I'm crazy, just wait until you talk to my invisible friend.)
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To: Strategerist; Las Vegas Ron
It’s tough to wrap your mind around but the bubble doesn’t actually move. You need to break out of the mindset that there is some sort of definite, unchanging, grid of “space” that you “move” through.

If you could 'stand still' in space, everything would come to you.

64 posted on 09/17/2012 12:11:02 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 ( If you think I'm crazy, just wait until you talk to my invisible friend.)
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To: Squawk 8888; Las Vegas Ron
In theory the vehicle could remain stationary.

Name ONE thing in space that remains stationary.

65 posted on 09/17/2012 12:13:58 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 ( If you think I'm crazy, just wait until you talk to my invisible friend.)
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To: GeronL
seriously... you wouldn’t warp space anywhere near a planet or even within the solar system ideally.

So.... 50 to 100 years to get to 'empty' space before you can warp ?

66 posted on 09/17/2012 12:16:29 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 ( If you think I'm crazy, just wait until you talk to my invisible friend.)
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To: UCANSEE2

That’s the concept, make the ship stationary and move space around it. It’s all about Einstein’s elevator:
http://www.astronomynotes.com/relativity/s3.htm


67 posted on 09/17/2012 12:18:12 PM PDT by discostu (Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.)
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To: DannyTN

SO..... Inchworm Warp Drive ?


68 posted on 09/17/2012 12:19:16 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 ( If you think I'm crazy, just wait until you talk to my invisible friend.)
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To: Pontiac
Masses smaller than your warp bubble would be "moved" out of the way are your bubble distorts the reference space/time. Life pushing a Cheerio through a bowl of milk. It'd push the other O's aside as it passed.

Of course, planets and stars would be more like trying to push an NFL linebacker out of the way of your Cheerio...

69 posted on 09/17/2012 12:22:20 PM PDT by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
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To: discostu
make the ship stationary

How would you make it stationary, and how would you know when it was stationary ?

70 posted on 09/17/2012 12:23:06 PM PDT by UCANSEE2 ( If you think I'm crazy, just wait until you talk to my invisible friend.)
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To: UCANSEE2

lol, Inchworm actually seems to fit.


71 posted on 09/17/2012 12:25:32 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: Dead Corpse
Wow... I need more sleep.

Masses smaller than your warp bubble would be "moved" out of the way as your bubble distorts the reference space/time. Like pushing a Cheerio through a bowl of milk. It'd push the other O's aside as it passed.

Sleep training our youngest. She doesn't like sleeping in her crib and let's us know this fact several times a night...

72 posted on 09/17/2012 12:25:37 PM PDT by Dead Corpse (I will not comply.)
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To: UCANSEE2

The important part is that it’s movement is no longer how it gets to somewhere else, somewhere else gets brought to it. It doesn’t have to be brought to truly 100% stationary, it’s just no longer being propelled, space gets propelled.


73 posted on 09/17/2012 12:26:30 PM PDT by discostu (Welcome back my friends to the show that never ends.)
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To: USFRIENDINVICTORIA
"you need space lawyers"

That would be awful similar to this...

"Nothing travels faster than the speed of light with the possible exception of bad news, which obeys its own special laws. The Hingefreel people of Arkintoofle Minor did try to build spaceships that were powered by bad news but they didn't work particularly well and were so extremely unwelcome whenever they arrived anywhere that there wasn't really any point in being there." - Douglas Adams

74 posted on 09/17/2012 12:32:04 PM PDT by DannyTN
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To: jonno
Inertial dampening takes care of this - hello??!!

Lol...I had to go look that up.

75 posted on 09/17/2012 12:32:16 PM PDT by Las Vegas Ron (Medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism)
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To: Las Vegas Ron

In the future, when we can warp space-time and travel faster than light, will people still be unable to tell the difference between your and you’re, or loose and lose? Or will our telepathy eliminate the need to spell?


76 posted on 09/17/2012 12:38:43 PM PDT by Defiant (If there are infinite parallel universes, why Lord, am I living in the one with Obama as President?)
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To: justlurking
I'm all for warp drive...as long as they manage to find a planet full of those hot green chicks from Star Trek for me to warp to
77 posted on 09/17/2012 12:39:57 PM PDT by DemforBush (100% Ex-Democrat.)
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To: Defiant
Or will our telepathy eliminate the need to spell?

Beets me, I sure hope we can get rid of the grammar police though ;)

78 posted on 09/17/2012 12:42:30 PM PDT by Las Vegas Ron (Medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism)
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To: Las Vegas Ron

LOL!


79 posted on 09/17/2012 12:45:57 PM PDT by Defiant (If there are infinite parallel universes, why Lord, am I living in the one with Obama as President?)
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To: Defiant
{;^)
80 posted on 09/17/2012 12:51:30 PM PDT by Las Vegas Ron (Medicine is the keystone in the arch of socialism)
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