Posted on 02/11/2006 4:31:06 PM PST by PatrickHenry
On Tuesday, Feb. 14, noted physicist Dr. Franklin Felber will present his new exact solution of Einstein's 90-year-old gravitational field equation to the Space Technology and Applications International Forum (STAIF) in Albuquerque. The solution is the first that accounts for masses moving near the speed of light.
New antigravity solution will enable space travel near speed of light by the end of this century, he predicts.
Felber's antigravity discovery solves the two greatest engineering challenges to space travel near the speed of light: identifying an energy source capable of producing the acceleration; and limiting stresses on humans and equipment during rapid acceleration.
"Dr. Felber's research will revolutionize space flight mechanics by offering an entirely new way to send spacecraft into flight," said Dr. Eric Davis, Institute for Advanced Studies at Austin and STAIF peer reviewer of Felber's work. "His rigorously tested and truly unique thinking has taken us a huge step forward in making near-speed-of-light space travel safe, possible, and much less costly."
The field equation of Einstein's General Theory of Relativity has never before been solved to calculate the gravitational field of a mass moving close to the speed of light. Felber's research shows that any mass moving faster than 57.7 percent of the speed of light will gravitationally repel other masses lying within a narrow 'antigravity beam' in front of it. The closer a mass gets to the speed of light, the stronger its 'antigravity beam' becomes.
Felber's calculations show how to use the repulsion of a body speeding through space to provide the enormous energy needed to accelerate massive payloads quickly with negligible stress. The new solution of Einstein's field equation shows that the payload would 'fall weightlessly' in an antigravity beam even as it was accelerated close to the speed of light.
Accelerating a 1-ton payload to 90 percent of the speed of light requires an energy of at least 30 billion tons of TNT. In the 'antigravity beam' of a speeding star, a payload would draw its energy from the antigravity force of the much more massive star. In effect, the payload would be hitching a ride on a star.
"Based on this research, I expect a mission to accelerate a massive payload to a 'good fraction of light speed' will be launched before the end of this century," said Dr. Felber. "These antigravity solutions of Einstein's theory can change our view of our ability to travel to the far reaches of our universe."
More immediately, Felber's new solution can be used to test Einstein's theory of gravity at low cost in a storage-ring laboratory facility by detecting antigravity in the unexplored regime of near-speed-of-light velocities.
During his 30-year career, Dr. Felber has led physics research and development programs for the Army, Navy, Air Force, and Marine Corps, the Defense Advanced Research Projects Agency, the Defense Threat Reduction Agency, the Department of Energy and Department of Transportation, the National Institute of Justice, National Institutes of Health, and national laboratories. Dr. Felber is Vice President and Co-founder of Starmark.
Source: Starmark [Felber's own firm, apparently]
Hmmm, an offshoot of the hypervelocity penetrators from the DoD? ;-)
Look at it this way, you have a 1-kg projectile going at 0.57 c. It is headed for a 50-ton tank initially at rest. From F=ma, there is NO WAY the repulsive force from the penetrator is going to accelerate the tank out of the way before impact. Scratch (and dent, and obliterate) one armored vehicle.
Full Disclosure: Yes, I knew people who worked on supercomputer modeling of projectile-armor dynamics. What of it?
Second Disclosure: YES, I *read* the article, and *YES* I'm aware that that's not what it's really about. . .
Cheers!
I LIKE it! :-)
Cheers!
Thats all well an good... can we go back to the Moon already?
Improbability Drive?
Thanks for the link. I still don't know what to make of this.
Yeah, but as a project administrator, according to this. Also, he's kind of old to be doing innovative work; I suspect if there's anything to this at all, he's fronting for some much younger guys.
I doubt that. If a younger guy did this work, he'd kill to get it published in his own name.
this almost sounds like the concept behind the supercavatating torpedo.
Spindizzies !
Don't panic.
So how do you slow down?
I don't either, I googled him under "Franklin S. Felbar" and physics and got some interesting stuff...Princeton, USC, and some interesting science projects...and more when you google him under "Franklin Felbar" and Physics.
This is no kook.
Now how good his equations are is another thing. But if it pans out and the tests work like his stuff predicts...very, very cool!
You've already considered this, right?
Well, your speed limit is c...
It can't work like that. As I understand it (at a primitive level) particle accelerators have to keep on chugging to move stuff up close to lightspeed. This effect, if real, should have been detected by now. Perhaps one of the smart guys will chime in and help us out.
I could be wrong; we'll see.
Dr Felber is looking for volunteers to test this theory. I will pray that no huge masses get in your way when v < .577c.
I wouldn't propose such a thing, it just sounds like Felber is saying that. Your payload will fall forward weightlessly in its own antigravity beam.
Well, isn't that just special?
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