How does quantum mechanics affect man-made space exploration?

[JohnPBailey]

Could quantum mechanics be the key to interstellar space travel in a flash? Is there a connection between quantum mechanics and the future of astronautics? Think of the Starship Enterprise's being able to travel at various warp factors, powers (exponents) of the speed of light? Could advanced quantum understanding someday make this science fiction science fact? 

Edited December 16, 2022 by JohnPBailey
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[Lorentz Jr]

Here's a question for you. It's totally unscientific, no basis in anything at all, but I find it interesting:

If you compare c (the speed of light) to speeds of ordinary human activities here on Earth, it seems very fast. But if you divide cosmological distance scales by typical human time scales, c is agonizingly slow. So relativity offers no hope at all for human beings to explore any significant portion of the visible universe in any amount of time that we would currently consider "reasonable" for us.

Doesn't that seem silly? Doesn't it seem rather pointless to have a universe that we can see but we can never explore? I like to think that there may be a way to travel, or at least communicate, at superluminal speeds. It seems absurd if you believe in relativity, but Hendrik Lorentz's own interpretation of his transformation equations hasn't been scientifically disproved. It's not as rigid as relativity is about forbidding FTL phenomena, and I would imagine that things like objective interpretations of quantum entanglement and wavefunction collapse might contain clues for someday developing superluminal technologies.

 

Edited December 16, 2022 by Lorentz Jr

[Phi for All]

5 hours ago, JohnPBailey said:

Think of the Starship Enterprise's being able to travel at various warp factors,

!

Moderator Note

Do you want to discuss non-existent science as a Speculation, or do you want to examine how current theories in QM might be used in the future? We can't discuss fictional Star Trek tech in mainstream science sections.

 

[swansont]

5 hours ago, JohnPBailey said:

Is there a connection between quantum mechanics and the future of astronautics?

Yes, undoubtedly, since so much of modern technology depends on QM. Beyond that, the question is incredibly vague, to the point that it’s meaningless.

[MigL]

Quantum mechanics is a paradigm shift in the way we understand the workings of reality at the smallest, most fundamental levels.
How could it NOT affect any of mankind's future endeavors ?

[joigus]

Very much in the vein of thoughts expressed. How could it not? It is essential to explain magnets, for example. Ferromagnetism is a quantum phenomenon.

So you either QM your physics, or you get it wrong.

[Bufofrog]

21 hours ago, Lorentz Jr said:

So relativity offers no hope at all for human beings to explore any significant portion of the visible universe in any amount of time that we would currently consider "reasonable" for us.

Doesn't that seem silly?

No, sad maybe but not silly.

I doubt any human will ever make it to another star system let alone any significant portion of the visible universe

21 hours ago, Lorentz Jr said:

Doesn't it seem rather pointless to have a universe that we can see but we can never explore?

Yes, it is pointless because the universe was not designed with us in mind.