Posted on 01/05/2006 3:44:01 PM PST by Names Ash Housewares
http://news.scotsman.com/scitech.cfm?id=16902006
Welcome to Mars express: only a three hour trip IAN JOHNSTON SCIENCE CORRESPONDENT AN EXTRAORDINARY "hyperspace" engine that could make interstellar space travel a reality by flying into other dimensions is being investigated by the United States government.
The hypothetical device, which has been outlined in principle but is based on a controversial theory about the fabric of the universe, could potentially allow a spacecraft to travel to Mars in three hours and journey to a star 11 light years away in just 80 days, according to a report in today's New Scientist magazine.
The theoretical engine works by creating an intense magnetic field that, according to ideas first developed by the late scientist Burkhard Heim in the 1950s, would produce a gravitational field and result in thrust for a spacecraft.
Also, if a large enough magnetic field was created, the craft would slip into a different dimension, where the speed of light is faster, allowing incredible speeds to be reached. Switching off the magnetic field would result in the engine reappearing in our current dimension.
The US air force has expressed an interest in the idea and scientists working for the American Department of Energy - which has a device known as the Z Machine that could generate the kind of magnetic fields required to drive the engine - say they may carry out a test if the theory withstands further scrutiny.
Professor Jochem Hauser, one of the scientists who put forward the idea, told The Scotsman that if everything went well a working engine could be tested in about five years.
However, Prof Hauser, a physicist at the Applied Sciences University in Salzgitter, Germany, and a former chief of aerodynamics at the European Space Agency, cautioned it was based on a highly controversial theory that would require a significant change in the current understanding of the laws of physics.
"It would be amazing. I have been working on propulsion systems for quite a while and it would be the most amazing thing. The benefits would be almost unlimited," he said.
"But this thing is not around the corner; we first have to prove the basic science is correct and there are quite a few physicists who have a different opinion.
"It's our job to prove we are right and we are working on that."
He said the engine would enable spaceships to travel to different solar systems. "If the theory is correct then this is not science fiction, it is science fact," Prof Hauser said.
"NASA have contacted me and next week I'm going to see someone from the [US] air force to talk about it further, but it is at a very early stage. I think the best-case scenario would be within the next five years [to build a test device] if the technology works."
The US authorities' attention was attracted after Prof Hauser and an Austrian colleague, Walter Droscher, wrote a paper called "Guidelines for a space propulsion device based on Heim's quantum theory".
Sounds real good!
We can hope.
Don't know about the source, though. At least this wasn't the Weekly Weird News or the NYTimes or something.
Pinging KevinDavis!
Here is the PDF the article spoke of......
"This paper describes a novel space propulsion technique, based on an extension of a unified field theory in a quantized, higher-dimensional space, developed by the late B. Heim (1977) in the 50s and 60s of the last century, termed Heim Quantum Theory (HQT)."
http://www.uibk.ac.at/c/cb/cb26/heim/theorie_raumfahrt/hqtforspacepropphysicsaip2005.pdf
This thread is a clone of an earlier one.
More here....
http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundamentals/mg18925331.200.html
Article Preview
Take a leap into hyperspace
05 January 2006
Haiko Lietz
Magazine issue 2533
Fancy a trip through another dimension? New Scientist Space uncovers the curious tale of the rocket driven by quantum gravity
EVERY year, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics awards prizes for the best papers presented at its annual conference. Last year's winner in the nuclear and future flight category went to a paper calling for experimental tests of an astonishing new type of engine. According to the paper, this hyperdrive motor would propel a craft through another dimension at enormous speeds. It could leave Earth at lunchtime and get to the moon in time for dinner. There's just one catch: the idea relies on an obscure and largely unrecognised kind of physics. Can they possibly be serious?
The AIAA is certainly not embarrassed. What's more, the US military has begun to cast its eyes over the hyperdrive concept, and a space propulsion researcher at the US Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories has said he would be interested in putting the idea to the test. And despite the bafflement ...
Wait, I think I saw this in an old Sci-Fi movie. When they turn on the engine, it creates a super-massive black hole that looks remarkably like the whirlpool formed when toilet is flushed.
It sucks the earth (and everyting else) in. Everyone dies.
The end.
Meh... I'll doubt it.
Wonder if its related to this?
http://www.gravitywarpdrive.com/
Well then, let's just kill those guys and we're on our way to the stars!!
MAJOR Stumbling blocks even in the basic science:
1. The Nuclear Gravitation Field Theory is a new theory. All Classical Physics principles such as Newton’s Law of Gravity, Kepler’s Laws of Orbital Motion, and Einstein’s General Relativity Theory must remain unaffected by the Nuclear Gravitation Field Theory when this new theory is applied to any physical conditions that either Newton’s Law, Kepler’s Law, or Einstein’s Relativity Theories currently apply.
2. Classical Physics demonstrates that the Electrostatic Repulsion Force of the protons in the nucleus is on the order of 3×1035 greater than the Gravitational Attraction Force of the nucleons in the nucleus. Classical Physics demonstrates that it is impossible for the Gravitational Attraction Force to overcome the Electrostatic Repulsion Force.
3. Newton’s Law of Gravity states the Gravitational Field intensity at any given point outside a sphere or point source of mass is inversely proportional to the square of the distance from the center of gravity of that mass to that given point (Gravitational Field is proportional to 1/r2). The field intensity established by the “Strong Nuclear Force” propagating outward from the nucleus “drops off” much faster than a 1/r2 function. The “Strong Nuclear Force” field intensity at any given point appears to be inversely proportional to at least the seventh power of the distance from the center of the nucleus (the “Strong Nuclear Force” is proportional to 1/r7) which is inconsistent with Newton’s Law of Gravity. This current paradigm of thought also explains how the “Strong Nuclear Force” overcomes the proton “Electrostatic Repulsion Force” at very short range (nuclear diameters).
4. Newton’s Law of Gravity predicts the Nuclear Gravitation Field holding the nucleus together is extremely feeble if it is assumed to be a continuous function as is the case with the gravitational field of the Earth.
5.The current paradigm of Physics states there are two separate and distinct nuclear forces:
a) The “Strong Nuclear Force” is the force that holds the protons and neutrons in the nucleus together. This force is a very strong, short ranged force that overcomes the “Electrostatic Repulsion Force” of the positive charged protons tending to break the nucleus apart.
b) The “Weak Nuclear Force” is the “Force of Gravity.”
Demonstrating the “Strong Nuclear Force” and “Gravity” are one and the same force essentially demonstrates only one nuclear force exists. In other words, the “Strong Nuclear Force” and the “Weak Nuclear Force” are one and the same force.
One last thing... the basic idea was to 'amplfy' the strong nuclear force and use it as a 'gravity gun' propulsion.
Just like the UFOs!!! :)
Cool! Let the Muslims have Earth. We'll be sippin' martinis on Alpha Centauri!
Ok,
You go first.
Not only have I read it, I cited it in one of my papers in grad school and got an A on the paper!
space ping
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