Posted on 01/05/2006 8:42:46 AM PST by jbwbubba
AN EXTRAORDINARY "hyperspace" engine that could make interstellar space travel a reality by flying into other dimensions is being investigated by the United States government.
The hypothetical device, which has been outlined in principle but is based on a controversial theory about the fabric of the universe, could potentially allow a spacecraft to travel to Mars in three hours and journey to a star 11 light years away in just 80 days, according to a report in today's New Scientist magazine.
The theoretical engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that, according to ideas first developed by the late scientist Burkhard Heim in the 1950s, would produce a gravitational field and result in thrust for a spacecraft.
Also, if a large enough magnetic field was created, the craft would slip into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing incredible speeds to be reached. Switching off the magnetic field would result in the engine reappearing in our current dimension.
The US air force has expressed an interest in the idea and scientists working for the American Department of Energy - which has a device known as the Z Machine that could generate the kind of magnetic fields required to drive the engine - say they may carry out a test if the theory withstands further scrutiny.
(Excerpt) Read more at news.scotsman.com ...
Three hours? But I wanna get there now.
Travel is vastly overrated. Does no one have something they should be doing at home?
That's why I want to go to Mars.
Garbage."
Very probably but tachyonic drives are are a very (as in very, very) hypothetical idea that utilize a flow of particles that can go no slower than light speed but are unlimited in terms of top speed.
So far though, "garbage" seems to be an astute analysis.
Oops!! You are right!! Damn numerical error....
Very very hypothetically, has anyone begun to speculate how these tachyons would be able to interact at all with us bradyons? Wouldn't they essentially have to convert us to tachyons in order to get us to go at those speeds?
Economically viable enters into it as well. Just some guesses though:
1) Cars that drive themselves
2) Space Elevator
3) Quantum effect transistors (ultra-small switches at the limit of Si manufacturing. I'll bet real money on this one happening.)
4) Quantum computers (Not the ultra-amazing computers that some people think, but they will be able to make P=NP, which will be a huge improvement.)
5) Huge advances in medical technology resulting in lifespans typically around 100 years for people born at that time.
It is true that conventional physics has many gaps, but as far as most physicists know, this is not one of them. I agree that we will have a period of rapid advances, probably fairly soon, but all the mainstream lines of theoretical inquiry (string theory, loop quantum gravity, etc.) assume that c is the speed limit of the universe, at least on the local scale.
The important point to remember is that we have absolutely zero experimental evidence to even suggest that FTL (Faster than Light) effects occur in nature. Only very very strange constructions in General Relativity that assume amounts of negative mass measured in units of negative solar masses may offer a way forward.
So even though extra dimensions or parallel universes may exist, current theory would insist that the speed of light be the same in all of them.
Well heck, my grandfather, born in the 1890s, was 99+ when he passed away. My mom is his youngest and is 78.
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