Theoretical FTL

[Essseresse]

If the problems of powering such a device were ignored, what would be a method to achieve FTL space travel?

 

I am writing a story and I am trying make it as realistic as possible.

[StringJunky]

If we ignore the problems it can't be realistic. Anything with mass can't reach the speed of light let alone go faster. You'll just have to make something up absent of any proper science. Thinking fantastically, you could maybe have openings or vortices in space of some sort that provide shortcuts from one point in space to another effectively allowing much faster travel in terms of getting to a destination quicker..

[Spyman]

If you are writing a sciene fiction and the FTL is not part of the plot, but needs to be there for the story to work, then I suggest you borrow from one of the many already established faster than light methods. By using a familiar and well known way, people will recognise it from famous movies or books, which will lend your story and method credibility, even if it is only SF.

 

Here is a link to Wikipedia about Hyperspace and FTL travel in popular science fiction: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Hyperspace_(science_fiction)

[ajb]

If the problems of powering such a device were ignored, what would be a method to achieve FTL space travel?

 

I am writing a story and I am trying make it as realistic as possible.

The most realistic would be some kind of apparent faster than light speed such as using a wormhole or warp drive. These kinds of methods do not allow local faster than light speed and so are quite consistent with classical physics. The quantum stability if such things is another question...

[Implicate Order]

If the problems of powering such a device were ignored, what would be a method to achieve FTL space travel?

 

I am writing a story and I am trying make it as realistic as possible.

 

You can be pretty quirky dealing with relativistic space travel and associated length contraction and time dilation compared between reference frames say from here on earth and the traveller. For example with a bit of poetic licence allowed for in sci-fi, develop your story around the relativistic rocket. Send your prisoners on a relativistic rocket to a new planet far way and let them be a problem for your future generation. I believe it is our obligation to transfer our problems to our kids in a kind of pay it forward way. *tongue in cheek*

Edited February 11, 2014 by Implicate Order

[ZVBXRPL]

If you are writing a science fiction story, you do not have to follow any rules laid down by any current scientific theories, or even laws for that matter

Think of all the sci-fi stories that involve time travel, warp speed, parallel universes and travelling to other dimensions etc

Are those stories "realistic"?

What were the scientific theories of 500 years ago?

What will the scientific theories be 500 years from now, or 50,000 years from now?

[md65536]

Not realistic, but maybe something like negative mass or negative squared (imaginary) mass, or time reversal might be a hack. Consider how one might behave as a hypothetical/fictional tachyon.

 

If you could reduce your mass to zero you should travel at the speed of light. If you reduced it further(???) you should travel faster. You can't accelerate through c with mass, but can you smoothly go through 0 mass? (Not realistic, I don't even know what this would mean.) A problem would be, what *are* you if you do this? You can no longer be an observer at c. Would describing this coherently (with a massive object also remaining coherent) be similar to eg. Star Trek transporters?

 

Realism is difficult, of course most sci fi simply glosses over the details without even attempting to explain it, and often the more it's explained the less realistic it is!

 

Edit: upon thinking about that, I'd say that manipulating spacetime (eg. warp drive) like if you could control inflation or "deflate spacetime" or something...

 

http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Alcubierre_drive is probably the most realistic, science-based speculative idea for FTL travel?

Edited February 20, 2014 by md65536