Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

Skip to comments.

Warp Drive, When?
nasa ^ | 09/01/05

Posted on 09/01/2005 7:08:26 PM PDT by KevinDavis

A Look at the Scaling

The ideal interstellar propulsion system would be one that could get you to other stars as quickly and comfortably as envisioned in science fiction. Before this can become a reality, three scientific breakthroughs are needed: discovery of a means to exceed light speed, discovery of a means to propel a vehicle without propellant, and discovery of a means to power such devices. Why? - Because space is big, really, really, really big.

Space takes up a lot of space!

Interstellar distances are so astronomical (pun intended) that it is difficult to convey this expanse. Consider the following analogy: If the sun were the size of a typical, 1/2 inch diameter marble, the distance from the sun to the Earth, called an "Astronomical Unit (AU)" would be about 4 feet, the Earth would be barely thicker than a sheet of paper, and the orbit of the Moon would be about a 1/4 inch in diameter. On this scale, the closest neighboring star is about 210 miles away. That’s about the distance from Cleveland to Cincinnati.

(Excerpt) Read more at nasa.gov ...


TOPICS: Miscellaneous; News/Current Events
KEYWORDS: hyperspace; nasa; podkletnov; space; warp
Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-58 last
To: Larry Lucido

Your idea is not entirely idiotic. You can thank me later.

If you could assemble a host of gravitationally attracting bodies, which would conveniently move slightly out of range as your spacecraft passed its point of closest attraction, you would have built a gravitational slingshot that operates by a kind of peristaltic action.

No fuel would be consumed during this process, except what might be needed to move the planetoids around.

To envision it, this could have been the way the "stable wormhole" of Deep Space Nine operated.


41 posted on 09/01/2005 8:59:14 PM PDT by NicknamedBob (I am impervious to insult, being extraordinarily dense, rather like Superman.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 36 | View Replies]

To: NicknamedBob

Can you really escape the sun's gravitational pull with a slingshot maneuver? Wouldn't you just end up in a really, really big orbit around the sun? I thought you had to have some sort of propulsion to escape.


42 posted on 09/01/2005 9:01:03 PM PDT by metmom (Welfare was never meant to be a career choice.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 37 | View Replies]

To: NicknamedBob

Brings to mind those electromagnetic rail guns that accellerate projectiles via conduction. Wonder if that can be adapted somehow.


43 posted on 09/01/2005 9:07:08 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 41 | View Replies]

To: metmom
"Can you really escape the sun's gravitational pull with a slingshot maneuver?"

Yes.

"I thought you had to have some sort of propulsion to escape."

The slingshot maneuver is your propulsion, as it was for our V'gers. They used a fortuitous alignment of the outer planets to effect gravitational maneuver after gravitational maneuver until they were well on their way to nowhere in particular.

If you could hopscotch in this manner all through the galaxy, it would be nearly as convenient as Tarzan's vines, or those ubiquitous Stargates!

It would also be very slow. The stepping stones get pretty far apart out there.

44 posted on 09/01/2005 9:10:39 PM PDT by NicknamedBob (I am impervious to insult, being extraordinarily dense, rather like Superman.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 42 | View Replies]

To: Larry Lucido

Magnetic propulsion would be easier to set up than gravitational.

Of course, you still have the pesky problem of having to build all that stuff first.

And then there is the matter of stopping...


45 posted on 09/01/2005 9:13:29 PM PDT by NicknamedBob (I am impervious to insult, being extraordinarily dense, rather like Superman.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 43 | View Replies]

To: Hardastarboard
a means to propel a vehicle without propellant

I'm no engineer, but isn't this kind of a stupid statement?

Yeah. I think they mean a way to move the craft without throwing mass out the ass...

46 posted on 09/01/2005 9:15:41 PM PDT by null and void (It's all like watching a train wreck, in slow motion, from the front of the train.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 26 | View Replies]

To: NicknamedBob

Yea, stopping. Not too many Midas shops out there. :-)


47 posted on 09/01/2005 9:22:04 PM PDT by Larry Lucido
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 45 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

I would remind you that a "warp" is a heavy rope Warp drive was used 160 years ago to pull ships up the river. Its a TV joke.


48 posted on 09/01/2005 9:47:40 PM PDT by Domangart
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

Well, the other issue is we would need to develop some sort of device to cancel the g-forces on the body. The acceleration needed for most any of these ideas would leave the human body a mass of jelly-like substance.


49 posted on 09/01/2005 10:36:10 PM PDT by tarawa
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

when? when Scotty says it is safe. For now, impulse power only.


50 posted on 09/01/2005 10:38:07 PM PDT by isom35
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

Quoth the raven, "nevermore"...


51 posted on 09/02/2005 9:45:27 AM PDT by boris (The deadliest weapon of mass destruction in history is a leftist with a word processor.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: fr695

An intelligent response - too bad it had nothing to do with my post. :)


52 posted on 09/02/2005 5:33:21 PM PDT by solitas (So what if I support an OS that has fewer flaws than yours? 'Mystic' dual 500 G4's, OSX.4.2)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 24 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

Just think of all those other civilizations just waiting to vist us, yet are similarly plagued with time and distance.


53 posted on 09/04/2005 10:48:48 PM PDT by onedoug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: onedoug; All
I think there are three categories of civilizations:
1. Advance civilizations.. Already have the technology but don't really care to meet us.. (In all fairness would you really want to visit this god forsaken planet?).

2. Civilizations with our technology.. At our technological level when it comes to space travel.
3. Civilizations that is just starting out. Basically civilaztions is just starting out.. They could be in our own stone age, bronze age, or whatever...
54 posted on 09/05/2005 2:06:24 PM PDT by KevinDavis (the space/future belongs to the eagles --> http://www.cafepress.com/kevinspace1)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 53 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
We're going to go from the Milky Way to M31. Yay!

But first, let's see if we can get from NO to Houston without exercising every out of work politician on the planet.

55 posted on 09/05/2005 2:12:19 PM PDT by RightWhale (25 degrees, clear, frost and birdshot, Fairbanks)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis

I personally would like to see an 'Infinite Improbability Drive'.


56 posted on 09/05/2005 2:22:11 PM PDT by Tench_Coxe
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 1 | View Replies]

To: JustDoItAlways

understand completely how gravity and mass works.

Just the thought of gravity weighs heavily on my mind!


57 posted on 09/05/2005 2:25:49 PM PDT by tet68 ( " We would not die in that man's company, that fears his fellowship to die with us...." Henry V.)
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 13 | View Replies]

To: KevinDavis
I don't think "advanced civilizations" know about us either, let alone can travel much beyond their own stellar neighborhood. Because even allowing relatvistic effects for the vast ditances beyond, who would know or remember these travellers when they returned to their homes centuries later?
58 posted on 09/05/2005 6:02:55 PM PDT by onedoug
[ Post Reply | Private Reply | To 54 | View Replies]


Navigation: use the links below to view more comments.
first previous 1-2021-4041-58 last

Disclaimer: Opinions posted on Free Republic are those of the individual posters and do not necessarily represent the opinion of Free Republic or its management. All materials posted herein are protected by copyright law and the exemption for fair use of copyrighted works.

Free Republic
Browse · Search
News/Activism
Topics · Post Article

FreeRepublic, LLC, PO BOX 9771, FRESNO, CA 93794
FreeRepublic.com is powered by software copyright 2000-2008 John Robinson