Faster than light travel may be possible after all

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mrk

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In continuation form the previous thread on an article posing the theory that physical ships would never be able to move faster than light speeds a new thoeiry linked here suggests that instead of moving a spacecraft FTL that it could in fact be possible to move space time FTL in a type of bubble in which said ship would be in and travel with.

Some very sciency reading for a Friday =]

The warp drive, one of Star Trek's hallmark inventions, could someday become science instead of science fiction.

Some physicists say the faster-than-light travel technology may one day enable humans to jet between stars for weekend getaways. Clearly it won't be an easy task. The science is complex, but not strictly impossible, according to some researchers studying how to make it happen.

The trick seems to be to find some other means of propulsion besides rockets, which would never be able to accelerate a ship to velocities faster than that of light, the fundamental speed limit set by Einstein's General Relativity.

Luckily for us, this speed limit only applies within space-time (the continuum of three dimensions of space plus one of time that we live in). While any given object can't travel faster than light speed within space-time, theory holds, perhaps space-time itself could travel.

"The idea is that you take a chunk of space-time and move it," said Marc Millis, former head of NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project. "The vehicle inside that bubble thinks that it's not moving at all. It's the space-time that's moving."
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So given this method of FTL travel, if there was another planet with intelligent life more evolved than us it gives the posisbility that they could have such technology to be able to move space time and travel such distances - perhaps?
 
It's possible but by only moving space time, it would not be possible for a physical object to travel FTL iirc by the previous thread article on Einstein's theory?
 
Of course, it's possible. Have you never seen Battlestar Galactica?






I like that their ships don't have force fields. Slightly more realistic. Slightly. :p
 
As always the Arther C Clarke quote is appropriate when talking about other planet and other lifeforms.

[QUOTE="Arther C Clarke]Two possibilities exist: Either we are alone in the Universe or we are not. Both are equally terrifying.[/QUOTE]

As for FTL drives it has always been science fiction on how to get around it so this isn't new just the maths involved, it will be a while before the actual mathmatics filters down in to the engineering stages.

KaHn
 
vonhelmet said:
I'll believe it when I see it. Until then, I'm sticking with Einstein.
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That's a double positive? :p

Einstein said a physical object could not travel faster than light. This new research is theorising that it's not the object that will be moving but space time itself around the object in a bubble - so the object remains still in space!

But then there are questions that need answering!

Since it's only space time moving and not any physical object, how will the object wihtin the moving space time bubble appear to an observer outside of the bubble? will the object simply vanish into the folds of space time then re-appear at the other end? what about the bubble banging into other bubbles carrying other occupants? will the effect be the same as two Falcon Punches colliding??

Answers are needed!
 
The ships FTL drive is a Romberg-Rockwell Cygnus 5 Hyperdrive Tachyon Shunt, which propels the ship through the light barrier by shifting the entire ship into a mirror state in which it is entirely composed of tachyons: In this state the ship CANNOT move at speeds lower than that of light. Speed is controlled by varying the mass and energy state of the ship. Shedding mass increases the ships speed, while increasing the ships mass lowers speed. The main disadvantage of this method of travel is that time is not compressed as one would expect, but *extended* when traveling at FTL speeds. This stretching of time is directly related to the square of the speed, and imposes some severe limits on the maximum speed of the ship, beyond which travel time becomes untenable. As is, all of the crew and passengers need to use the cold-sleep capsules during FTL travel, otherwise they would age far too fast compared to the rest of the universe.

Stardrive: The ship uses a Romberg-Rockwell Cygnus 5 Hyperdrive Tachyon Shunt which can propel the ship at a maximum cruise velocity of 0.0325 Lightyears per realspace hour, or 284.7 times the speed of light. At these speeds each real space hour at FTL means that on board of the ship no less than 81.054 hours pass, or almost 3.4 days!
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USS Sulaco.

Science fiction I know but an interesting theory nontheless.
 
Our only real stumbling block is power generation. Till we can have miniturised cold fusion that prouces the power of the whole of the EU in the size of a pea, we wont be able to do anything like this.

Power is the key.
 
EvilOne said:
Our only real stumbling block is power generation. Till we can have miniturised cold fusion that prouces the power of the whole of the EU in the size of a pea, we wont be able to do anything like this.

Power is the key.
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Hence research plans to look further into dark energy :D
 
mrk said:
In continuation form the previous thread on an article posing the theory that physical ships would never be able to move faster than light speeds a new thoeiry linked here suggests that instead of moving a spacecraft FTL that it could in fact be possible to move space time FTL in a type of bubble in which said ship would be in and travel with.

Some very sciency reading for a Friday =]



So given this method of FTL travel, if there was another planet with intelligent life more evolved than us it gives the posisbility that they could have such technology to be able to move space time and travel such distances - perhaps?
Click to expand...

Now read this one; http://www.technologyreview.com/blog/arxiv/23292/ Seems it probably isn't possible, at least not via this method after all.
 
That's teh same article I posted in the last thread - this new theory is a different method altogether.
 
For it to be possible, the craft would have to travel outside of our own space-time, I guess that's what the "bubble" is suggesting. Interesting stuff :)
 
Call me Mr. Stupid if you want, but would this ever ever work anyway?

Out of all the gazillion of 'stars' in the known universe, whether visible to the naked eye or not, would it even be safe to go that speed to arrive at a destination?

For example, take a pack of cards, there's only 52 of them in a deck, put one in the centre of your room and call it 'Earth'.

Now take the remaining 51 cards and place them randomly on the floor, doesn't matter where, just spatter them about.

Now suppose I want to travel from Earth to Alpha Zeta123 (otherwise known as the distant Planet near the radiatorverse), my path is gonna be more than likely blocked by BeetleneartheTVguise Planet, so there I am travelling at the speed of light when the next thing I know I'm smashed into a billion atoms.

FTL is all very well and good if there's absolutely nothing in the way, but I doubt any space ship is gonna be able to 'break in and speed out' of planets, zipping this way and that to get from A to B.

Or am I looking at this too matter of fact?
 
EvilOne said:
Our only real stumbling block is power generation. Till we can have miniturised cold fusion that prouces the power of the whole of the EU in the size of a pea, we wont be able to do anything like this.

Power is the key.
Click to expand...

Nonsense, we'll need an anti-matter reactor.


While it does seem vrey interesting it is unfortunately just another theory, but a great way to get around Einstein's general relativity if it pans out.
 
~J~ said:
Call me Mr. Stupid if you want, but would this ever ever work anyway?

Out of all the gazillion of 'stars' in the known universe, whether visible to the naked eye or not, would it even be safe to go that speed to arrive at a destination?

For example, take a pack of cards, there's only 52 of them in a deck, put one in the centre of your room and call it 'Earth'.

Now take the remaining 51 cards and place them randomly on the floor, doesn't matter where, just spatter them about.

Now suppose I want to travel from Earth to Alpha Zeta123 (otherwise known as the distant Planet near the radiatorverse), my path is gonna be more than likely blocked by BeetleneartheTVguise Planet, so there I am travelling at the speed of light when the next thing I know I'm smashed into a billion atoms.

FTL is all very well and good if there's absolutely nothing in the way, but I doubt any space ship is gonna be able to 'break in and speed out' of planets, zipping this way and that to get from A to B.

Or am I looking at this too matter of fact?
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That point gets raised in both Star Wars and Red Dwarf as I recall... They have computers to plan the route for them. Still, you'd need to do the mapping first.
 
The distance between stars is vast - years - so there is plenty of time to make course corrections to avoid crashing into things, I'm sure.
 
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