Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
We actually DO have a clue about how FTL would work, in the form of a Star Trek-style warp drive called the Abercrombie Drive, the theoretical basis for which was established in the mid 1990s. Initially it required such huge energy inputs as to be impractical but that problem has since been solved. The main barrier now is that we don't know how to produce the exotic materials that would make up the warp coil, and there are some unresolved concerns about what would happen when returning to normal space. NASA currently is working on this at the skunkworks level, sort of like how the auto industry produces concept cars that aren't very practical. It looks on track to me, to produce a prototype in the next couple hundred years, which actually is coincidentally consistent with the Star Trek universe. Life imitating art.
As for the photon drive you are referring to, THAT is 100% feasible for what it is -- basically a way to get small, unmanned craft to a significant fraction of light speed in a very short time but with no way to slow them down or stop them at the other end. Or applied less rigorously, a way to accelerate a manned craft with relatively low energy consumption, but not so much that it can't decelerate in the conventional manner.
We can expect this technology to be implemented fully within a couple of generations and work is proceeding apace. The government even has a will to spend the $$ because of its potential for asteroid deflection and the militarization of space, which is currently happening whether we want it to or not.
... although the article is I think a little bit dated.
Looks as if there is a lot of theoretical work going on regarding FTL drives, but everyone agrees we're in over our heads at this point in the science, so practical applications will be a long time in coming.
... although the article is I think a little bit dated.
Looks as if there is a lot of theoretical work going on regarding FTL drives, but everyone agrees we're in over our heads at this point in the science, so practical applications will be a long time in coming.
I kinda remember that one. Someone mentioned something about it in 2013 when they were Higgs testing at LHC. I don't think it gained much traction as I haven't heard any more about it.
Here's a funny reverse... We, humans, are always worried about advanced races coming here, but, just imagine if we are first! Talk about a mind job.
I kinda remember that one. Someone mentioned something about it in 2013 when they were Higgs testing at LHC. I don't think it gained much traction as I haven't heard any more about it.
Here's a funny reverse... We, humans, are always worried about advanced races coming here, but, just imagine if we are first! Talk about a mind job.
Yes and i think Star Trek was quite prescient, if we were the first to visit other worlds and found sentient societies there, we would need something like the Prime Directive to govern when / if / how we contact them. The last thing I'd want to see is a repeat of what happened to native peoples when Europeans came to the Americas.
Interesting to speculate about ... obviously it is a problem for my great grandchildren or maybe their great grandchildren.
Yes and i think Star Trek was quite prescient, if we were the first to visit other worlds and found sentient societies there, we would need something like the Prime Directive to govern when / if / how we contact them. The last thing I'd want to see is a repeat of what happened to native peoples when Europeans came to the Americas.
Interesting to speculate about ... obviously it is a problem for my great grandchildren or maybe their great grandchildren.
Which Europeans? The Vikings got their ... Handed to them. Then there's mitochondrial haplotype evidence of salutreans and Clovis points 18k ago as far away as Arizona??? Not to mention Polynesians, some contend Irish, etc... Or the multi regional evolution theory vs the strictly out of Africa once. But I digress as that's topic for another thread.
But yeah, Star Trek had a lot of stuff 'right' all the way back to the trouble with tribbles... Cute little furry guys. Lol. If only reality humans were as open minded as the shows we like. Star Trek did get one thing wrong. It didn't show the Romulan women enough. Even in the reboots which I love. I'll take a Romulan and their thriving on emotion over their boring logic cousin Vulcans any day. Heck they created the disruptor and what did Vulcans give us? Live long and prosper? Boo (but again to digress, the one Vulcan girl I believe on enterprise was very appealing. Not 7 of 9 appealing but that then crossss over to another thread: attraction to cybernetic organisms).
Which Europeans? The Vikings got their ... Handed to them. Then there's mitochondrial haplotype evidence of salutreans and Clovis points 18k ago as far away as Arizona??? Not to mention Polynesians, some contend Irish, etc... Or the multi regional evolution theory vs the strictly out of Africa once. But I digress as that's topic for another thread.
But yeah, Star Trek had a lot of stuff 'right' all the way back to the trouble with tribbles... Cute little furry guys. Lol. If only reality humans were as open minded as the shows we like. Star Trek did get one thing wrong. It didn't show the Romulan women enough. Even in the reboots which I love. I'll take a Romulan and their thriving on emotion over their boring logic cousin Vulcans any day. Heck they created the disruptor and what did Vulcans give us? Live long and prosper? Boo (but again to digress, the one Vulcan girl I believe on enterprise was very appealing. Not 7 of 9 appealing but that then crossss over to another thread: attraction to cybernetic organisms).
We actually DO have a clue about how FTL would work, in the form of a Star Trek-style warp drive called the Abercrombie Drive, the theoretical basis for which was established in the mid 1990s. Initially it required such huge energy inputs as to be impractical but that problem has since been solved. The main barrier now is that we don't know how to produce the exotic materials that would make up the warp coil, and there are some unresolved concerns about what would happen when returning to normal space. NASA currently is working on this at the skunkworks level, sort of like how the auto industry produces concept cars that aren't very practical. It looks on track to me, to produce a prototype in the next couple hundred years, which actually is coincidentally consistent with the Star Trek universe. Life imitating art.
As for the photon drive you are referring to, THAT is 100% feasible for what it is -- basically a way to get small, unmanned craft to a significant fraction of light speed in a very short time but with no way to slow them down or stop them at the other end. Or applied less rigorously, a way to accelerate a manned craft with relatively low energy consumption, but not so much that it can't decelerate in the conventional manner.
We can expect this technology to be implemented fully within a couple of generations and work is proceeding apace. The government even has a will to spend the $$ because of its potential for asteroid deflection and the militarization of space, which is currently happening whether we want it to or not.
I am aware of what I think you are referring to:
Quote:
Although the metric proposed by Alcubierre is mathematically valid (in that the proposal is consistent with the Einstein field equations), it may not be physically meaningful, in which case a drive will not be possible. Even if it is physically meaningful, its possibility would not necessarily mean that a drive can be constructed. The proposed mechanism of the Alcubierre drive implies a negative energy density and therefore requires exotic matter. So if exotic matter with the correct properties does not exist then the drive could not be constructed. However, at the close of his original paper[2] Alcubierre argued (following an argument developed by physicists analyzing traversable wormholes[3][4]) that the Casimir vacuum between parallel plates could fulfill the negative-energy requirement for the Alcubierre drive.
Another possible issue is that, although the Alcubierre metric is consistent with Einstein's equations, general relativity does not incorporate quantum mechanics. Some physicists have presented arguments to suggest that a theory of quantum gravity (which would incorporate both theories) would eliminate those solutions in general relativity that allow for backwards time travel (see the chronology protection conjecture) and thus make the Alcubierre drive invalid. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive
So I really don't hold out a lot of hope. I would really like to, but I don't.
One tenth of one percent of light speed is a "significant fraction"? It is fast enough that avoiding obstacles is going to be very tricky (and it is moving through space, not folding it).
I am aware of what I think you are referring to:So I really don't hold out a lot of hope. I would really like to, but I don't.
One tenth of one percent of light speed is a "significant fraction"? It is fast enough that avoiding obstacles is going to be very tricky (and it is moving through space, not folding it).
Folding space is different than warping it. Just sayin...
One tenth of one percent of light speed is a "significant fraction"? It is fast enough that avoiding obstacles is going to be very tricky (and it is moving through space, not folding it).
The photon drive is supposed to accelerate a craft to 30% of light speed in 30 minutes. We would have pictures on their way from Alpha Centauri 17 years after departure (assuming we can figure out how to transmit them clearly from that great a distance).
Of course that's on paper at this point, and it's another one of those things that I won't live to see. But it's progress.
Please register to post and access all features of our very popular forum. It is free and quick. Over $68,000 in prizes has already been given out to active posters on our forum. Additional giveaways are planned.
Detailed information about all U.S. cities, counties, and zip codes on our site: City-data.com.
Please register to participate in our discussions with 2 million other members - it's free and quick! Some forums can only be seen by registered members. After you create your account, you'll be able to customize options and access all our 15,000 new posts/day with fewer ads.
Coincidentally, me current profile pic is:
