'Warp drive' may be more feasible than thought, scientists say

‘Warp drive’ may be more feasible than thought, scientists say

Science • September 2012 • Views: 1,824

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.

Read more: foxnews.com

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8 comments

TDG2112 Sun, Sep 30, 2012 7:04:56am

If you really dig into this you find that "exotic matter" is required to make it work. [Link: en.wikipedia.org...]

"Exotic Matter" is something that is shown in the math, but has never been observed. In this case the form they are talking about here is "Negative Matter." Negative Matter, as opposed to Anti-matter, simply cancels out what we view as normal matter. Whereas the interaction of Anti-matter with normal matter creates a HUGE release of energy, Negative matter simply produces NOTHING.

I think the thing that gets people excited here (at least for me) is that we can clearly see the Universe is expanding. We can see that EVERYTHING that is not nearby (that is nearby galaxies) is moving away from us. Space is EXPANDING. The further away things are, the faster they are moving away from us. In fact they are moving away from us FASTER THAN LIGHT can travel according to the red-shift we observe. Therefore, at some point things will start disappearing from our horizon. So we can see that space is getting bigger everywhere, the Warp Drive thing is make space in front of us contract, and space behind us expand, and you have FTL without violating Special Relativity. Even cooler, it would be a Reactionless drive! Turn it on, and you move, turn it off and you instantly STOP moving. No Newtonian laws to deal with! Sci-Fi realized in reality! The bummer is that we have NO idea what Negative Matter is, or if it even exists for real.

I can't find the youtube video right now of the expanding Universe thing and it being such a sever Red Shift it appears to be moving at FTL. I thought it was a One Minute Physics episode, but I don't see it right now. Maybe it was a Vsauce video the guys collaborated on.

Wayne A. Schneider Sun, Sep 30, 2012 3:44:03pm

re: #1 TDG2112

Please, I'm not an expert in Astrophysics, but something doesn't add up here:

From the article:

"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."

What you said

"In fact they are moving away from us FASTER THAN LIGHT can travel according to the red-shift we observe."

If nothing can move faster than the speed of light, then how can things in the Universe be moving away from us at a rate faster than the speed of light?

Decatur Deb Sun, Sep 30, 2012 3:45:28pm

re: #2 Wayne A. Schneider

Please, I'm not an expert in Astrophysics, but something doesn't add up here:

From the article:

"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."

What you said

"In fact they are moving away from us FASTER THAN LIGHT can travel according to the red-shift we observe."

If nothing can move faster than the speed of light, then how can things in the Universe be moving away from us at a rate faster than the speed of light?

Retroactively.

Achilles Tang Sun, Sep 30, 2012 5:45:09pm

I think the point is that one creates an localized "inflation" of space, then moves with it, while not violating laws within that space. The question though is; can one create a new inflation without it expanding uncontrollably, in effect creating a new big bang?

Perhaps our universe was created by some nimwits who thought they were a little too smart for their own good. Perahaps also they they are still out there wondering where the hell they are.

I suspect that if this were possible, after 14 billion years, we would be visited weekly by tourist going where no beings have gone before; not to mention that the idea is published by Fox "News" and probably next by World Nut Daily.

TDG2112 Sun, Sep 30, 2012 6:22:39pm

re: #2 Wayne A. Schneider

You want to blow your mind some more? what we are observing shows that no matter where you are in the universe, everything appears to be moving AWAY from that spot.

The trick is, space is EXPANDING. Let me say it again this way: the space between the stars is expanding.

The further away an object is, the faster it appears to be moving away from you, as the space between you and it is so much greater.

I wish I could find the One Minute physics explanation. The guy doing that channel really gets his points across in an easy simple to understand way.

Astro-physics is really mind blowingly cool. To get a sense how it effects some people:
Neil deGrasse Tyson: Greatest Sermon Ever! (Off topic, but I never get tired of watching this guy's passion for science)

Youtube Video

TDG2112 Sun, Sep 30, 2012 7:00:11pm

re: #2 Wayne A. Schneider

Also, I wouldn't bother with the Fox News version of this stuff. "Loop Hole in the law's of physics" is a pile of crap statement. If you can do something in science, it isn't a loop hole, its science.

Here is the article from Gizmodo from Sept 17:
[Link: gizmodo.com...]

There's a bunch of background to this. I really got into it when it was posted to Slashdot. It got me to get off my tush and understand how the speed of light never changed, no matter what speed you are going (really mind blowing stuff). But the thing of article is that NASA is looking for the PROOF OF EXISTENCE of Warp speed. They are trying to figure out what to look for, and how to look for it. If they can find proof that this is real, it's so much easier to actually do the rest of the science to then be able to hand off to the Engineers.

btw, I'm a Poly Sci major, and barely got through college algebra. I swear, if I won the lottery I'd go back to school and learn the language of the Universe at a minimum, and probably go as far as my small brain could take me toward a PhD in Astro-Physics.

TDG2112 Sun, Sep 30, 2012 7:00:51pm

Oh yeah, and Keep looking up!

Achilles Tang Sun, Sep 30, 2012 7:02:38pm

re: #5 TDG2112

You want to blow your mind some more? what we are observing shows that no matter where you are in the universe, everything appears to be moving AWAY from that spot.

The trick is, space is EXPANDING. Let me say it again this way: the space between the stars is expanding.

The further away an object is, the faster it appears to be moving away from you, as the space between you and it is so much greater.

I wish I could find the One Minute physics explanation. The guy doing that channel really gets his points across in an easy simple to understand way.

Astro-physics is really mind blowingly cool. To get a sense how it effects some people:
Neil deGrasse Tyson: Greatest Sermon Ever! (Off topic, but I never get tired of watching this guy's passion for science)

[Embedded content]

The expansion is accererating, which is somewhat more interesting and would be worrying if we lived a lot longer.

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