Faster-than-light travel?

Wow, what are the chances that this actually works all the way through, I thought we were a long way off even considering to develop this kind of technology.
 
Cybermyk said:
I think they're going to call the first spaceship based on this technology 'Event Horizon' :eek:
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I was thinking the exact same thing as I read through that. Although it is extremely interesting.

The only problem I can see is the computer power that would be needed to work everything out (or more the rate at which the data can be sent) as everything is constantly changing, or of course i'm making myself sound like a prat and i'll blame it on being tired ;)
 
Well it seems that there are a lot of assumptions there, The main being that these extra 2 dimensions actually exist, and in those there exists the force that is the product of gravity as we know it, and moving charge creating both a magnetic field along with their own electric field, and the gravitational field due to the electrons mass.

I dont want to be a downer here, but it seems a tad, i dont know, carried away?

Perhaps if there was some actual evidence in that article i would be a little more excited. However saying that, I am perfactly happy to be corrected and will be very interested to read more....

EDIT: Also there is the problem of increasing mass as one gets close to the speed of light. Although saying that, these laws of energy and mass might not apply in a different dimension...?

/me Looks for more info on the matter :D.... Got me excited now (What! im a physicist! leave me alone :D)
 
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Good read though.. Always fascinated by this sort of thing.. as long as they dont mess up the delicate balance ive got here, im happy.

Might have to get on the phone to them.. "Have you played Doom?".."What do you mean No?!".."extra dimensions..gate to hell..get on it!"
 
To be honest i really wish the human race will master interstellar travel before i pass away. There should be a lot more resources going into RnD of these types of technology imo! To me this would be more fascinating than the next version of an Ipod :P
 
woodsy2k said:
Well it seems that there are a lot of assumptions there, The main being that these extra 2 dimensions actually exist, and in those there exists the force that is the product of gravity as we know it, and moving charge creating both a magnetic field along with their own electric field, and the gravitational field due to the electrons mass.
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The idea that extra dimensions can give rise to fundamental forces isn't a new one - Kaluza and Klein showed way back in the 20s that postulating a fifth spacetime dimension in the shape of a circle gives not only Einstein's field equations for gravity, but also Maxwell's laws for Electromagnetism. It doesn't seem too far-fetched to guess that other 'extra' dimensions may give rise to the other fundamental forces - although Heim's theory is the first that I've heard which claims to be able to do so in a consistent manner.

In some sense it doesn't even matter if these extra dimensions 'exist' or are detectable using conventional methods. If postulating their existence gives lots of sensible predictions and no contradictory ones, then that's a good reason to suppose that they exist for the time being. If the theory gives good results then why ditch the theory - even if it does seem oddly counter-intuitive?

I'd be wary, though, because they also claim that Heim-Droscher theory unifies gravity and quantum mechanics. It would be an incredible tour-de-force if it did, but so many people have incorrectly claimed to be able to unify the two in the last X years that we should be wary, and exceedingly picky with any new challengers.

As to FTL travel - I couldn't really comment. I tried to read Droscher's reworking of Heim's paper, and it was hard. Like, really hard. Even if it is possible, then I fully expect to take many, many years - I wouldn't be at all surprised if we didn't live to see it.
 
very interesting read that. who knows, we might be able to experience star trek in our lifetime! :eek:
 
manveruppd said:
I know this is really old news but I was astounded when I saw it and had to share! Any physicists on here who know anything about this?

http://www.newscientistspace.com/article/mg18925331.200-take-a-leap-into-hyperspace.html
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The notion that high EM fields can reduce, or even neutralise gravity has been around for a long time, and there are experimental results that suggest there may be something to it.

But its a hell of a leap to suggest that this could work on macroscopic scales....its one thing to do it in a lab, but for a spacecraft the magnetic genreation kit would need to be part of the craft, so you could well find yourself reducing gravity on one hand, but having to used increase mass on the other, so not saving yourself anything....
 
Visage said:
The notion that high EM fields can reduce, or even neutralise gravity has been around for a long time, and there are experimental results that suggest there may be something to it.
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Wow, I didn't know that. Got any links?
 
I'd have to ggole for them....it was a couple of years ago, probably in New Scientist or such like.

As i recall it was a high speed rotating disk with an induced EM field above it. Objects placed within the field appeared to feel a reduction in gravitational force.

As i recall, though, the reductions were right on the limit of experimental detection, so there was some scepticism in the scientific community.

I'll try and have a google....
 
OK...a quick ggole later throws up the name Podkletnov as the guy behind it, but i'm struggling to find any truly reputable sites amongst all the crackpot 'OMG ANTIGRAVITY!!!!!' sites......
 
gord said:
Might have to get on the phone to them.. "Have you played Doom?".."What do you mean No?!".."extra dimensions..gate to hell..get on it!"
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hehehehehe yes anyone involved in this kind of thing should have it in their contract that if things go wrong ala doom or even horizon (that film still freaks me out) then they should have the good grace to blow themselves and whatever was about to kill them back to whatever demon dimension it came from
 
Mana said:
very interesting read that. who knows, we might be able to experience star trek in our lifetime! :eek:
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That would be sweet, but even if they discovered ftl travel, anything we can build now would probably not survive a trip of any distance as it would be pulverised by dust etc at those speeds... we would need to develop the Trek style navigational shields first...
 
Mat said:
That would be sweet, but even if they discovered ftl travel, anything we can build now would probably not survive a trip of any distance as it would be pulverised by dust etc at those speeds... we would need to develop the Trek style navigational shields first...
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But I think the theory is that it would travel in a different dimension where those dust particles won't interact with the ship. I understand how it's possible that a large enough EM field could counter-act gravity but I don't see how that could propel it "into another dimension". But then again I can't really imagine other dimensions except the four that we experience.
 
Mat said:
That would be sweet, but even if they discovered ftl travel, anything we can build now would probably not survive a trip of any distance as it would be pulverised by dust etc at those speeds... we would need to develop the Trek style navigational shields first...
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surely its not flt, it just say it repluses gravity witha huge em field, so interesting, i hope they give it the funding to be at least test before debunking it.
 
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