Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say

SPACE.com ^ | 2012-09-17 | Clara Moskowitz

[justlurking]

A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel — a concept popularized in television's Star Trek — may not be as unrealistic as once thought, scientists say.

A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster than light. A concept for a real-life warp drive was suggested in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre, however subsequent calculations found that such a device would require prohibitive amounts of energy.

Now physicists say that adjustments can be made to the proposed warp drive that would enable it to run on significantly less energy, potentially bringing the idea back from the realm of science fiction into science.

"There is hope," Harold "Sonny" White of NASA's Johnson Space Center said here Friday (Sept. 14) at the 100 Year Starship Symposium, a meeting to discuss the challenges of interstellar spaceflight.

[ETL]

According to General Relativity, gravitational effects and acceleration are equivalent. Gravity is basically a distortion of space-time. Acceleration propels one into the future (vs the frame of reference they started in). The faster than light speed discussed here would, in effect, be a distortion of space-time. Why wouldn’t there be a time travel aspect? Faster than light also means, according to theory, and if ever possible, going BACK in time.

[Pontiac]

Thanks

I am glad to hear someone understands my sense of humor.

Even if they are few and far between.

;)

[ETL]

And... time dilation *does* occur within gravitational fields, more or less depending on the amount of mass involved. The space-time manipulation discussed here seems to me to be not too different than a gravitational field.

[antiRepublicrat]

Gotta emigrate to another star system where the economic laws are sane

The economic laws here haven't changed, because economic laws are just reflections of human behavior. It's just that politicians want to keep breaking the laws without consequence. What you want to do is escape to a law-abiding star system.

[Rebelbase]

Soundtrack for the first flight if they ever move it from concept into the testing phase:

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=EEEzbFxEbB8