Shadow Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 http://news.discovery.com/space/warp-drive-possible-nasa-tests-100yss-120917.html Comments? Is this the real deal, or media twisting the facts?
moth Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 I don't know how feasable this is but I'm sure warp drive would be awesome. Of course if you have warp speed you need shields. "I'm fairly sure some kind of shielding would be required [when traveling at warp speed]," he said. "I'm quite interested in doing some more research into the 'cloaking device' that's been in the news recently using metamaterials that bend radiation around objects." Then photon torpidos!
ElasticCollision Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 I saw this article myself earlier. I really don't know much about how it would work; the whole idea of shrinking and expanding spacetime is confusing to me, but it would still be great to see this come to fruition.
ydoaPs Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 Does the new design fix the problems of extreme levels of Hawking Radiation and inherent instability?
Moontanman Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 (edited) Does the new design fix the problems of extreme levels of Hawking Radiation and inherent instability? From what I've read in another place yes it does, or is thought to do so, it wasn't very heavy with factual assertions... edit: I'm going to have to take that back, it was at below light speed that the radiation problem was not a factor and it was from another article not that one, sorry for my confusion... Edited September 18, 2012 by Moontanman
swansont Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 I think that it's not a matter of it becoming feasible, it's a matter of being slightly further from impossible. 2
AboveStanding Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 I think that it's not a matter of it becoming feasible, it's a matter of being slightly further from impossible. You do realize impossible is a word a scientist should never use
Phi for All Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 You do realize impossible is a word a scientist should never use Try slamming a revolving door. 5
Moontanman Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 (edited) I'd like to add something to this warp drive thread, I think it is important to consider that even if the radiation problem is insurmountable in FTL travel with this "warp drive" the idea that it is a little less impossible to do is thrilling. If you could achieve say 90% of the speed of light it would pretty much open up the galaxy to us, a 40,000 year journey to the nearest star is more than just an obstacle but 5 years to the nearest star is pretty reasonable. Doing it with out huge fuel tanks (I'm not completely clear on how such a ship would power it's self) and not having to accelerate for years to get to 90% light speed would be an incredible improvement over current space travel methods even if we don't get FTL out of it... Edited September 18, 2012 by Moontanman
dimreepr Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 I'd like to add something to this warp drive thread, I think it is important to consider that even if the radiation problem is insurmountable in FTL travel with this "warp drive" the idea that it is a little less impossible to do is thrilling. If you could achieve say 90% of the speed of light it would pretty much open up the galaxy to us, a 40,000 year journey to the nearest star is more than just an obstacle but 5 years to the nearest star is pretty reasonable. Doing it with out huge fuel tanks (I'm not completely clear on how such a ship would power it's self) and not having to accelerate for years to get to 90% light speed would be an incredible improvement over current space travel methods even if we don't get FTL out of it... They talk of making the ring of exotic matter, so it wouldbe powered by magic.
dimreepr Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 (edited) I'd like to add something to this warp drive thread, I think it is important to consider that even if the radiation problem is insurmountable in FTL travel with this "warp drive" the idea that it is a little less impossible to do is thrilling. If you could achieve say 90% of the speed of light it would pretty much open up the galaxy to us, a 40,000 year journey to the nearest star is more than just an obstacle but 5 years to the nearest star is pretty reasonable. Doing it with out huge fuel tanks (I'm not completely clear on how such a ship would power it's self) and not having to accelerate for years to get to 90% light speed would be an incredible improvement over current space travel methods even if we don't get FTL out of it... They talk of making the ring of exotic matter, so it would be powered by magic. Edited September 18, 2012 by dimreepr
swansont Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 You do realize impossible is a word a scientist should never use No, I don't realize that. According to what we understand, there are things that are impossible, such as free energy devices. 1
Moontanman Posted September 18, 2012 Posted September 18, 2012 They talk of making the ring of exotic matter, so it would be powered by magic. Spoil sport...
sugmulllun Posted September 19, 2012 Posted September 19, 2012 (edited) This has the feeling of a legitimate field of research. That's just my feeling. I think that future versions of today's accelerators will "build" whatever particles or matter that the math of physics says could exist, whether they exist in nature (as measurable) or not. As I understand it gravity is a warping of space-time. Maybe the first practical use of this technology would be artificial gravity, since it would presumably take much less "exotic" matter to try and accelerate a person through a floor with an equivalent force of 9.8 newtons per gram than to take a multi-kiloton ship to a star. I read often in forums how this concept or that is unrealistic in practice because of this issue or that. I find it somewhat surprising that people interested in such things as future space travel, and the assumed open- mindedness of such, could lead to such nay saying of exotic ideas (and some not so exotic ideas) as I often read. It seems that every generation has the idea that it bascally understands what is possible and what is not, and they all turn out to be wrong. Edited September 19, 2012 by sugmulllun
mr.spaceman Posted September 28, 2012 Posted September 28, 2012 Does the exotic matter exist? or what it is? If you could achieve say 90% of the speed of light it would pretty much open up the galaxy to us With this concept, the spacecraft would be able to achieve an effective speed of about 10 times the speed of light, all without breaking the cosmic speed limit. Source: http://news.yahoo.co...109.html?_esi=1
pantheory Posted September 28, 2012 Posted September 28, 2012 Glad to realize that somebody is presently working on such an idea but surprised to see it make the science news because of its seeming far stretch from present theory and technology.
ydoaPs Posted September 28, 2012 Posted September 28, 2012 White and his colleagues have begun experimenting with a mini version of the warp drive in their laboratory. When did we find exotic matter?
A Tripolation Posted September 28, 2012 Posted September 28, 2012 When did we find exotic matter? That's what I keep telling you. This warp drive isn't one that implements exotic matter. It says the rings would potentially be made of them. I think that they can do modded experiments that have the same effect, since it would be on a much smaller scale, without the use of exotic matter. 1
ydoaPs Posted September 28, 2012 Posted September 28, 2012 That's what I keep telling you. This warp drive isn't one that implements exotic matter. It says the rings would potentially be made of them. I think that they can do modded experiments that have the same effect, since it would be on a much smaller scale, without the use of exotic matter. In that case, let's build a couple of these and power a full scale version. I wanna see some other planetary systems up close. 1
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