The Problem with Warp Drive

Centauri Dreams ^ | 12/28/09

[KevinDavis]

Paul Titze, who somehow finds time to write the excellent Captain InterStellar blog when not preoccupied with his maritime duties in Sydney, passed along a 2009 paper on warp drives yesterday that I want to be sure to consider before the year is over. Warp drives as in Miguel Alcubierre’s notion of a method of reaching speeds that are faster than light. The Star Trek echo in the choice of names was playful and intentional on Alcubierre’s part, and the physicist kicked off a cottage industry in exotic spacetimes and their geometries when he used it in a 1994 paper on superluminal flight.

[samtheman]

What is the “exotic matter” mentioned in the article?

[Dimez_Recon]

At this point, I’ll take a couple xeon’s and a solar sail. By the time the physics are theorized, I’ll be orbiting Proxima.

[PIF]

As we all know, warp drive is not usable above warp nine, else the fabric of the universe comes unglued...

So then there is hyperdrive, and ultradrive. Since ultradrive is much better and faster than hyperdrive, we should go directly for ultra - skipping both warp and hyper drive technologies.

Ultradrive utilizes alternating traction between the underside of this universe’s grid and the topside. Skipping stone effect.

[PIF]

Forgot to mention: when using ultradrive one is in UltraSpace, traveling at speeds over 200,000 llightyears/hr.

In at least one universe, the Dwellers have already colonized all gas giant worlds which they have connected via worm holes locted at the very center of each colonized gas giant.

Perhaps they have colonized this universe also - so if we were to go to Jupiter and ask nicely - maybe they would give us access?

[GraceG]

>> Forget the Warp drive, I want the Stargate Interstellar Drive... <<

I would like an X-303 even an BC-304 if they have it....

I’ll even take a ZPM if they have one lying around...

[GraceG]

How about the “Heim drive” funnily enough it was theorized by a WWII German scientists, so far their track record on space tech seems to be fairly good.

Got us to the moon, didn’t it...

[colorado tanker]

Scotty, it's getting really hot in here!

I'm dooin' the best I can sir!

[ConservativeMind]

I read recently that if we had a ship that was capable of incrementally accelerating toward the speed of light, but not to it, and the ship could withstand debris that might hit it, we could be a the other end of the Universe in 30-50 years.

Of course, the Earth would have long since been swallowed by the Sun in its death throes, but hey, traversing the Universe of 15+ billion light years in 30 years would be worth it!

[ConservativeMind]

Travel 15 billion light years in 30 years:

http://worldofweirdthings.com/2009/09/29/across-the-universe-in-a-lifetime-with-a-catch/

[allmost]

I didn’t ping you a half an hour a before?

[SunkenCiv]

You did, but I went back 31 minutes and altered the timeline.

[SunkenCiv]

According to Einstein et al, time slows as a consequence of relative acceleration, getting down to a crawl (if viewable from a slower moving frame) as one approaches light velocity. So, in this unverifiable scenario, a long trip such as what you describe might take years aboard the ship, but time for those left behind on Earth would spin along at the usual, resulting in those kinds of consequences.

[UnbelievingScumOnTheOtherSide]

I read recently that if we had a ship that was capable of incrementally accelerating toward the speed of light, but not to it, and the ship could withstand debris that might hit it, we could be a the other end of the Universe in 30-50 years. Of course, the Earth would have long since been swallowed by the Sun in its death throes, but hey, traversing the Universe of 15+ billion light years in 30 years would be worth it!

Um, I think they must have forgotten to take universal expansion into account. At that point, the universe would be 30 billion light-years to its end (or beginning) and you will still be smack dab in the middle, as is everyone from their own perspective.

As for debris, even blue-shifted star light and the background microwave radiation will be working against you/heating you up.

[Eye of Unk]

The Brits already have it all answered, we use a TARDIS. Travels both space and time.

[SunkenCiv]

note to self: take plenty of sunblock.