are ye daft man? ye canna mix mater and anti-mater cold.
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 ...
Feasible or not, this is kinda interesting.
Nanotech may well be the next new technology. It's already being exploited in materials science and there are lots of products on the market using it, but it just doesn't have funky blinking lights or makes cool whooshing sounds.
are ye daft man? ye canna mix mater and anti-mater cold.
I'm not flying to Mars unless they get the flight time down to two hours or less.
"Will Howard Dean be the first passenger? Maybe he already made the trip. :)"
Could be, he seems to have gone off the scope since his San Antonio screwup.
"186,000 miles per second..it's not just a good idea, it's the law!"
Not in a vacuum.
"Don't get me wrong, I love that people even entertain ideas like this- but I'll believe it when I see it. Can Nasa even get us to the moon again? I've been hearing about things like this all my life, and I'm still driving in oil powered cars, and using electrical appliances powered by steam engines. (Most power in U.S> generated by coal, oil and even nuke-fired turbine steam engines)
When I see it..."
Let's just hope if they get this thing going they remember their conversion tables between miles and kilometers.
"Feasible or not, this is kinda interesting."
It is. And travel agents will have to go to scientific calculators to be able to figure frequent flyer miles for their well travelled clients.
If there is anything to this, above and beyond science fiction, we're fooling ourselves if we think that it will be used exclusively for space exploration. This would make for one heck of a rapid deployment force, militarily. Also, the proverbial "slow boat to China" could be replaced with a high speed transport to Siberia, or the Oort Cloud, for that matter ... so, dissidents, watch your mouth, lol.
That's Prometheus.
Indeed, from the travel times both to Mars and to the nearest star it appears the vehicle accelerates in this alternate universe to the halfway point, flips around and decelerates. While it would never break our lightspeed during a trip to Mars it would on the longer trip to Alpha Centauri.
DOH!
Maybe...maybe not
Texas A&M University Physicists Have Devised A Way To Stop Light
Einstein In Need Of Update? Calculations Show The Speed Of Light Might Change
One point twenty-one gigawatts
Chances are that if somebody is talking about it...it has already been done a long time ago.
I'm sure our government has a whole bunch of advanced technologies nobody knows about.
Do you have an explanation for your one-word reply, or do you simply dismiss any scientific musings out of hand?
The three hours includes a layover in Phoenix.
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