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.

[discostu]

Not if you condense space and get there at relative speeds far in excess of the speed of light. That’s the whole idea, if every minute you can “move” through one squished light then your destination won’t have done much in the way of drifting, couple inches maybe, but you’re not warping that close.

[UCANSEE2]

Inertial dampening takes care of this - hello??!!

The problem is that the state of 'inertial dampening' is just as advanced as the state of 'warp drive'.

[UCANSEE2]

when we can warp space-time and travel faster than light,

You can do that now, but you have to be dead first.

[UCANSEE2]

Traveling through hyperspace ain't like dusting crops, boy! Without precise calculations we could fly right through a star, or bounce too close to a supernova and that'd end your trip real quick, wouldn't it?

"And the monkey flips the switch."

[SunkenCiv]

Thanks GeronL and skinkinthegrass.

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[UCANSEE2]

It would be an interesting equation however an object of infinite mass striking an immovable object.

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

[UCANSEE2]

Fine but I get to be “assimilated” by hot female borgs!

Make sure to bring plenty of MACHINE OIL.

[Feynman]

Actually there would be no perceptible acceleration within an Alcubierre bubble. The bubble is accelerated, but within the bubble there would be no perceptible movement.

[freedumb2003]

>>What about the effects on the human body during acceleration/deceleration?<<

Only a problem if they go to plaid.

[freedumb2003]

>>7 elements have been added to the periodic chart since I went to school. None have involved “ground up unicorns”. <<

That you know of...

[justlurking]

That really made me laugh out loud.

It’s been a while since I have been able to work a Spaceballs joke into conversation.

[freedumb2003]

Which Enterprise is that?

[RinaseaofDs]

This is easy:

1. Pick the place in interstellar space you want to be.
2. Press the button
3. Space-Time folds like a taco onto the location you are currently at, allowing you to move to the location you want to be.
4. Ship moves to that location.
5. End of journey.

How much energy could it take to warp space-time? 10^639483 joules here, 10^639483 joules there - eventually it ends up running into real energy required.

[freedumb2003]

1. Pick the place in interstellar space you want to be. 2. Press the button
3. Space-Time folds like a taco onto the location you are currently at, allowing you to move to the location you want to be.
4. Ship moves to that location.
5. End of journey.

War drive fuel:

[dangerdoc]

Scientists surprised to find warp drive more feasible than the Chevy Volt.

[Dead Corpse]

Think of it in terms of competing gravity wells. Instead of the negative potential in front of you “pushing” the objects space/time out of the way, you’d “skim” around the rim of the heavier masses space/time curve...

[KevinDavis]

[Las Vegas Ron]

I figure we could just hook up the flux capcitor or even the descronificator module ;)

[Tucker39]

According to my initial calculations, the astronaut’s skull and his rectum would trade places. One immediate problem from this would be difficulty in reading charts. Wearing earphones would also become difficult.

[wastedyears]

The other series he writes isn’t too bad; I listened to the audiobooks at the job I had from fall last year-March of this year.