Welcome to Mars express: only a three hour trip (WARP ENGINE USAF/NASA)

scotsman ^ | Thu 5 Jan 2006 | SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT

[epluribus_2]

Prototype test in five years should be just in time for the Democrats to take over the necessary appropriations comittee's to kill the program. Before the PLA or maybe the Eurostani's tests theirs.

[Termite_Commander]

Quadruple post.

[zarf]

I hear the "Palestinians" are working on one too.

[Red Badger]

....where the speed of light is faster....

That's where I stopped reading............

[Tennessee_Bob]

Let me guess - it runs on dilithium?

[manglor]

The power requirements would be insane. Here's an excerpt from the Sandia website about the Z Machine. The most recent advance resulted in an output X-ray power of about 290 trillion watts -- for billionths of a second, about 80 times the entire world's output of electricity.

[manglor]

The Z Machine in action

[Personal Responsibility]

Sounds a lot like the Infinite Improbability Drive to me!

[Wiz]

I don't know if this would be a dimension of science fiction or science, but anways... PING!

[Restorer]

"If the theory is correct then this is not science fiction, it is science fact," Prof Hauser said.

World class IF.

This is pure speculation at this point. There are a number of SF writers who do such speculation better.

[epluribus_2]

I'm sure they said similar things about the manhatten project - I mean this little tin can can produce HOW MUCH energy?

[saganite]

Zephraim Chochran is the lead scientist on this project.

[nuke rocketeer]

Is it based upon technology from the alien spaceship sequestered at Area 51?

[CFC__VRWC]

Hey DUmmies, we're just 10 dollars away from perfecting the warp drive that'll send The Smirk and his cronies on a one-way trip to see the Klingons around Uranus!

[mcshot]

Very interesting with unlimited possibilities but I probably will have already left this rock via my trip of faith. I do believe there are more dimensions in the universe then we know.
On the side will this make the flux capacitor obsolete?

mc

[Gtown]

A three-hour tour?

[Sax]

highly controversial theory that would require a significant change in the current understanding of the laws of physics

It's a perfect idea, now to get the law of physics to recognize it. It's the new CartBeforeTheHorse Warp engine.

[Wiz]

warpppppPING!

[Wiz]

It sure should be too long for Spock :)

[Rockingham]

Actually, relativity does not preclude faster than light travel, which is common at the quantum level. Since the connections between quantum mechanics and gravity are not worked out in the generally accepted models of physics, we are due for some major surprises. Notably, the proposed drive works by manipulating gravity, a common literary device in science fiction. Perhaps it will also be a feature of manned space vehicles in the next decade or two.