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.

[justlurking]

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.

[jonno]

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

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

[UCANSEE2]

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.

[UCANSEE2]

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.

[UCANSEE2]

In theory the vehicle could remain stationary.

Name ONE thing in space that remains stationary.

[UCANSEE2]

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 ?

[discostu]

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

[UCANSEE2]

SO..... Inchworm Warp Drive ?

[Dead Corpse]

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...

[UCANSEE2]

make the ship stationary

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

[DannyTN]

lol, Inchworm actually seems to fit.

[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...

[discostu]

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.

[DannyTN]

"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

[Las Vegas Ron]

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

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

[Defiant]

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?

[DemforBush]

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

[Las Vegas Ron]

Or will our telepathy eliminate the need to spell?

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

[Defiant]

LOL!

[Las Vegas Ron]

{;^)