NASA announces development of warp field interferometer in order to test the possibility of a warp-10 interstellar drive.
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NASA announces development of warp field interferometer in order to test the possibility of a warp-10 interstellar drive.
The Gizmodo article: http://gizmodo.com/5942634/nasa-starts-development-of-real-life-star-trek-warp-drive?utm_source=deadspin.com&utm_medium=recirculation&utm_campaign=recirculation
The legitimate NASA release: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110015936_2011016932.pdf
Thought you all might appreciate this.
The legitimate NASA release: http://ntrs.nasa.gov/archive/nasa/casi.ntrs.nasa.gov/20110015936_2011016932.pdf
Thought you all might appreciate this.
cjcurrie- Posts : 7
Join date : 2013-01-07
Re: NASA announces development of warp field interferometer in order to test the possibility of a warp-10 interstellar drive.
Exciting stuff! But I will believe it when I see it.
Paul Dryere- Posts : 504
Join date : 2012-02-28
Age : 37
Re: NASA announces development of warp field interferometer in order to test the possibility of a warp-10 interstellar drive.
I'm scared by how much I understood of the legitimate part. Oh well. Sounds nice enough, question is, when are they planning to pull it off so that more people learn about it?
EvilNinjadude- Posts : 550
Join date : 2012-10-04
Re: NASA announces development of warp field interferometer in order to test the possibility of a warp-10 interstellar drive.
As far as I understand, the ability to manipulate space-time depends upon the existence and ability to be manipulated of negative-mass. A high-gravity field is generated in front of the ship, but a low-gravity field must simultaneously exist behind it. Negative mass, if real, is the missing piece.
The discovery of the Higgs Boson showed (maybe) that gravity might be a force that can be directly observed or directly manipulated. Laser cooling uses photons to lower the thermal energy of a system even beyond its highest-entropy state; an analogous process using Higgs Bosons could theoretically lower the mass of an object below zero.
These theories have been pretty well-known for a while. The problem (similar to wormhole theory) has always been the insane amount of energy required to generate negative mass. Someone once told me it would take the energy of Jupiter to make such a bubble. What Dr. White discovered was a "loophole" in the math that lowered the energy requirement down to about 300kg of matter.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive:
When will this drive be ready? Probably never. But if it does work, the human race could rank up to a Class-II civilization. Holy shit.
The discovery of the Higgs Boson showed (maybe) that gravity might be a force that can be directly observed or directly manipulated. Laser cooling uses photons to lower the thermal energy of a system even beyond its highest-entropy state; an analogous process using Higgs Bosons could theoretically lower the mass of an object below zero.
These theories have been pretty well-known for a while. The problem (similar to wormhole theory) has always been the insane amount of energy required to generate negative mass. Someone once told me it would take the energy of Jupiter to make such a bubble. What Dr. White discovered was a "loophole" in the math that lowered the energy requirement down to about 300kg of matter.
From http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive:
I interpret this to mean that the ship doesn't travel (any faster than the magnitude of its starting velocity), but actually moves all of the universe around it. This is a weird thing to think about and requires one to forget any notion of absolute position relative to the universe. Physicists have been forgetting like this ever sine Einstein."Rather than exceeding the speed of light within its local frame of reference, a spacecraft would traverse distances by contracting space in front of it and expanding space behind it, resulting in effective faster-than-light travel."
When will this drive be ready? Probably never. But if it does work, the human race could rank up to a Class-II civilization. Holy shit.
cjcurrie- Posts : 7
Join date : 2013-01-07
Re: NASA announces development of warp field interferometer in order to test the possibility of a warp-10 interstellar drive.
I don't think it is exactly that you are moving the universe around yourself, as if standing in a river. Instead think of yourself standing on a grid, each step taking you into another square. This technique allows you to squish up the lines in front of you, allowing you to cross more lines per step without forcing you to take larger steps, or stepping faster.cjcurrie wrote:
I interpret this to mean that the ship doesn't travel (any faster than the magnitude of its starting velocity), but actually moves all of the universe around it. This is a weird thing to think about and requires one to forget any notion of absolute position relative to the universe. Physicists have been forgetting like this ever sine Einstein.
When will this drive be ready? Probably never. But if it does work, the human race could rank up to a Class-II civilization. Holy shit.
It's like you're gradually telefolding towards your target.
EvilNinjadude- Posts : 550
Join date : 2012-10-04
Re: NASA announces development of warp field interferometer in order to test the possibility of a warp-10 interstellar drive.
EvilNinjadude wrote:It's like you're gradually telefolding towards your target.
And now it all makes sense.
cjcurrie- Posts : 7
Join date : 2013-01-07
Re: NASA announces development of warp field interferometer in order to test the possibility of a warp-10 interstellar drive.
Hey, this IS the RR forum. We're SUPPOSED to dump all the references in here and then let it go from there.cjcurrie wrote:EvilNinjadude wrote:It's like you're gradually telefolding towards your target.
And now it all makes sense.
EvilNinjadude- Posts : 550
Join date : 2012-10-04
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