Conquer Club

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 brining 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.

BigBallinStalin wrote:Mexican physicist

aboratory tests

White and his colleagues have begun experimenting with a mini version of the warp drive in their laboratory.

They set up what they call the White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer at the Johnson Space Center, essentially creating a laser interferometer that instigates micro versions of space-time warps.

"We're trying to see if we can generate a very tiny instance of this in a tabletop experiment, to try to perturb space-time by one part in 10 million," White said.

He called the project a "humble experiment" compared to what would be needed for a real warp drive, but said it represents a promising first step.

And other scientists stressed that even outlandish-sounding ideas, such as the warp drive, need to be considered if humanity is serious about traveling to other stars.

Symmetry wrote:A loophole in the laws of physics?

Cleaver and Richard Obousy, a Baylor graduate student, tapped the latest idea in string theory to devise how to manipulate dark energy and accelerate a spaceship. Their notion is based on the Alcubierre drive, which proposes expanding space-time behind the spaceship while also shrinking space-time in front.

String theorists had believed that a total of 10 dimensions exist, including height, width, length and time. The other six dimensions exist largely as unknowns, but everything is based on hypothetical one-dimensional strings. A newer theory, called M-theory, suggests that those strings all vibrate in yet another dimension.

Manipulating that additional dimension would alter dark energy in terms of height, width, and length, Cleaver and Obousy theorize. Such a capability would permit the altering of space-time for a spaceship, taking advantage of dark energy's effect on the universe.

"The dark energy is simultaneously decreased just in front of the ship to decrease (and bring to a stop) the expansion rate of the universe in front of the ship," Cleaver told SPACE.com. "If the dark energy can be made negative directly in front of the ship, then space in front of the ship would locally contract."

Maugena wrote:

Symmetry wrote:A loophole in the laws of physics?

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure where these calculations originated from.
Probably a stoner high... cough cough.

Symmetry wrote:

Maugena wrote:

Symmetry wrote:A loophole in the laws of physics?

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure where these calculations originated from.
Probably a stoner high... cough cough.

Seems likely. I doubt Fox news consulted many physicists before deciding that the laws had a legal term like "loophole".

Army of GOD wrote:

Symmetry wrote:

Maugena wrote:

Symmetry wrote:A loophole in the laws of physics?

Yeah, I'm not exactly sure where these calculations originated from.
Probably a stoner high... cough cough.

Seems likely. I doubt Fox news consulted many physicists before deciding that the laws had a legal term like "loophole".

Maybe the same people that write the US tax code write the laws of physics?

Army of GOD wrote:Maybe the same people that write the US tax code write the laws of physics?