Warp Speed Go!

Post » Tue Sep 18, 2012 7:24 am

http://www.space.com/17628-warp-drive-possible-interstellar-spaceflight.html


They set up what they call the White-Juday Warp Field Interferometer at the Johnson Space Center, essentially creating a laser interferometer that instigates micro versions of space-time warps.

"We're trying to see if we can generate a very tiny instance of this in a tabletop experiment, to try to perturb space-time by one part in 10 million," White said.

He called the project a "humble experiment" compared to what would be needed for a real warp drive, but said it represents a promising first step.
And other scientists stressed that even outlandish-sounding ideas, such as the warp drive, need to be considered if humanity is serious about traveling to other stars.

"If we're ever going to become a true spacefaring civilization, we're going to have to think outside the box a little bit, we're going to have to be a little bit audacious," Obousy said.


The more we delve into these things the more it starts to concern me we'll create some kind of space time bomb/rift. Though I distinctly remember people that thought the same of the Large Hadron Collider and how it would create a stabilized micro-blackhole that would perpetuated that would grow, eventually swallowing the earth.
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Miguel
 
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Post » Tue Sep 18, 2012 2:35 pm

I agree with the guy in the article, I don't see our current ways getting us far. Can't wait to see the results.
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maria Dwyer
 
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Post » Tue Sep 18, 2012 10:51 am

i think its all a waste, even with such things it would take more than thousands of years to travel to the closest stars, of which have no suitable planets to colonize.

so why waste our resources on something that is never going to happen.
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JESSE
 
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Post » Tue Sep 18, 2012 10:27 am

Ah yes this is very interesting, but let's hope they didn't forget to take into factor the Quadrahedral Metaphysics theorem which states,"a Marsupial Conductor may not contain the more than the equivalent of 27 trikillion volts of electricity, for more than 36 heptamilliseconds." if they did indeed forget to take this into account, the whole experiment is flawed.
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Manuela Ribeiro Pereira
 
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Post » Tue Sep 18, 2012 4:33 pm

i think its all a waste, even with such things it would take more than thousands of years to travel to the closest stars, of which have no suitable planets to colonize.

so why waste our resources on something that is never going to happen.
In a little more than a hundred years, we went from being earthbound, to the moon and back again. Think about what we can accomplish in the next hundred or two years. Hell, even if it took 500 years to do, think about where mankind was 500 years ago, now think about how far we've come since then. Do you think that way back then man would've ever dreamed we would've come this far?

...And the thing about it is that we don't know for sure what or who is really out there. IMO it is ignorant of mankind to think that we, as a species, are so special that there is no other intelligent life out there in the universe comparable to, or even superior than ours.

Mankind are natural born explorers, since when do we need a reason to pick up and go somewhere. It's only natural for us to look towards the hill at the edge of the horizon and wonder what's on the other side. If we never explored our world, it'd probably still be flat.
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Ria dell
 
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Post » Tue Sep 18, 2012 10:54 am

I only have two problems with this:

1. "Exotic matter"

2. Minimum ammount of energy equal to the mass energy of Jupiter, then mass energy equivalent to a small spacecraft. That's a pretty big discrepancy. I wonder how it was calculated, and if it was double checked.

3. Where are you gonna mount the turbo lasers and proton torpedo bays and rail guns?
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Jaki Birch
 
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Post » Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:00 am

Meh, laws of physics simply don't allow us to leave this solar system. Space is [censored] big. Reality svcks like that :)

Theoretical ways to bypass the speed of light limit exist, yes, but they all fail on the part where you need to supply enough power for them :hehe:
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Chloe Lou
 
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Post » Tue Sep 18, 2012 2:43 pm

Meh, laws of physics simply don't allow us to leave this solar system. Space is [censored] big. Reality svcks like that :smile:

Theoretical ways to bypass the speed of light limit exist, yes, but they all fail on the part where you need to supply enough power for them :hehe:
A couple hundred years ago we couldn't even power a light bulb, we found a way eventually, we'll find a way for this too. :yes:
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Lakyn Ellery
 
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Post » Tue Sep 18, 2012 11:26 am

...And the thing about it is that we don't know for sure what or who is really out there. IMO it is ignorant of mankind to think that we, as a species, are so special that there is no other intelligent life out there in the universe comparable to, or even superior than ours.

Mankind are natural born explorers, since when do we need a reason to pick up and go somewhere. It's only natural for us to look towards the hill at the edge of the horizon and wonder what's on the other side. If we never explored our world, it'd probably still be flat.

Im sure there is life out there somewhere, i always adhere to the philosophy of "where the is one, there will be another". however i am more concerned about the quality of life here on earth, regardless of however much progress is made in a hundred or 500 years the cost to warp time/space to travel faster than the speed of light (much less traveling at the speed of light itself) in terms of resources here on earth would be devastating. I'll leave that line of discussion there as its sure to lead to political themed discussion thats off topic any ways.


last point, i counter: since when do we need a reason to leave home? The grass is always greener on the other side, and can't we learn from Icarus? if we never explored the world it would not be flat, the world is not defined by our perspective. The only thing in reach for us in space is cold lifeless vacuum. while there is an immeasurable amount of life out everyone's front door.
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Marine Arrègle
 
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Post » Tue Sep 18, 2012 7:12 pm

An unprotected ship traveling the speed of light won't mean a thing if it's a flying ball of metal and human meat mush.
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Anna Kyselova
 
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