Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say

[Crazy Eddie]

tl;dr

Are you ever going to make a cogent point that doesn't involve sifting through dozens of barely-relevant hyperlinks to other people's websites?

[publiusr]

I'ts good to draw upon other peoples thinking processes. We all saw what happened to Stanley Williams at Galeras because he didn't heed seismologists warnings. We need more generalists. I'm not trying to be difficult in the least. It just seems that a scaled up version of what Sonny wants to do might be best for a warp ship.

[Crazy Eddie]

publiusr wrote:

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I'ts good to draw upon other peoples thinking processes.

It's not so good to RELY on other people's websites.

[larryman]

I knew someone would try to adapt the NASA warp drive to the Star Trek Enterprise...

http://psidonia.blogspot.com/2011/06...sketch-of.html

But I think the warp-field would not extend far beyond the warp ring. So the entire ship's saucer-section would be destroyed (in the space-time compression zone), when the warp drive is engaged.

[pimp]

Our scientists may delve into warp drive theory but it will never become a reality. Humanity's progress is still hindered by politics, religion and the mother of all f***k ups greed (money).

[sojourner]

larryman wrote:

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I knew someone would try to adapt the NASA warp drive to the Star Trek Enterprise...

http://psidonia.blogspot.com/2011/06...sketch-of.html

But I think the warp-field would not extend far beyond the warp ring. So the entire ship's saucer-section would be destroyed (in the space-time compression zone), when the warp drive is engaged.

Actually, that's just someone doing a sketch of a generic ring warp drive attached to an Enterprise-ish ship. From reading the article I don't think they intended it to be based off of the NASA research.

Ring based warp drives are a lot older in fiction than NASA's research. Heck, some of Matt Jefferies original sketchs for the TOS Enterprise had rings.

[Psion]

sojourner wrote:

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Actually, that's just someone doing a sketch of a generic ring warp drive attached to an Enterprise-ish ship. Grom reading the article I don't think they intended it to be based off of the NASA research.

Ring based warp drives are a lot older in fiction than NASA's research. Heck, some of Matt Jefferies original sketchs for the TOS Enterprise had rings.

Sorry, Sojourner, I'm not laughing at you ... I'm hugely amused that this discussion wound up here!

Larryman, that was the beginning of a speculative project that started on these boards in the Trek Art forum. I invite you to look over the discussion here. It's another on top of a huge pile of unfinished projects I keep meaning to get back to.

[sojourner]

Yeah, I thought the art looked familiar. Didn't make the connection to your thread though, lol.

[larryman]

Psion wrote:

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Sorry, Sojourner, I'm not laughing at you ... I'm hugely amused that this discussion wound up here!

Larryman, that was the beginning of a speculative project that started on these boards in the Trek Art forum. I invite you to look over the discussion here. It's another on top of a huge pile of unfinished projects I keep meaning to get back to.

LOL... that's a funny occurrence. I got the link to that page from another board, which did not give background details.

I just browsed the thread link you provided. Don't see any mentions of the Enterprise physically exceeding the ring's field, as I mentioned. Refer to 1st image posted in this thread. The warp field is 'tight' to the leading and trailing ends of the warp ring. No length (in direction of ring movement) to accommodate the 'lengthy' Enterprise.

[Robert Maxwell]

pimp wrote:

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Our scientists may delve into warp drive theory but it will never become a reality. Humanity's progress is still hindered by politics, religion and the mother of all f***k ups greed (money).

Those things are not going to prevent warp drive from becoming a reality.

Science itself very well might, though.

[Psion]

larryman wrote:

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LOL... that's a funny occurrence. I got the link to that page from another board, which did not give background details.

I just browsed the thread link you provided. Don't see any mentions of the Enterprise physically exceeding the ring's field, as I mentioned. Refer to 1st image posted in this thread. The warp field is 'tight' to the leading and trailing ends of the warp ring. No length (in direction of ring movement) to accommodate the 'lengthy' Enterprise.

Well, in fairness to the intent, it was based on the "ringship" concept by Matt Jefferies as used for a Roddenberry pilot that never went anywhere and ultimately got re-used as set dressing for Star Trek: The Motion Picture, not on a paper that hadn't yet been published. If we're going to judge it by scientific concepts that didn't exist at the time, then I'll double-down and insist that this design relies on a longitudinally-asymmetrical warp field that will be discussed in a paper to be published in 2021.

Of course, you make a good point about trying to design to current scientific understanding. In this case, a longer ring to include the primary hull might work. Or two rings -- one ahead of the ship and one behind. But those sound like they'd lack grace. If we're already speculating about the mere existence of an FTL starship, why not borrow ideas from current science and extrapolate to something futuristic that serves the needs of the story and looks nice?

[Deckerd]

Ghostavo Fring wrote:

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Those things are not going to prevent warp drive from becoming a reality.

Science itself very well might, though.

But they'll keep tinkering around and might just come up with something else.

[throwback]

Two thousand years ago, a writer envisioned a trip to the Moon. In his time, people thought such a trip impossible and it would be improbable that humans would ever have the technology to do the trip. I think it's premature to say whether or not we can travel to the nearest stars. It may be that in another two thousand years that humans may have traveled to the nearest stars.

I think that space travel to the nearest stars may be a series of leaps, like what the Polynesians did when exploring the Pacific. They would travel to one island, settle that island, and travel to another island. I see humans doing that in space.

One of the reasons I am hopeful is that humans do have a tendency to be slow to move into other areas. It took tens of thousands of years for our species to move out of Africa into the Sinai peninsula, and eventually to the rest of the world.

I am doubtful that humans may colonize as much space as was shown in Star Trek or Doctor Who, where humans have spread out into systems that are thousands of light years of Earth. I think that it is more likely that humans will stay pretty close to the home system.

The benefit of the discoveries we are now witnessing in astronomy is that we are building a list of probable systems that humans could travel to and colonize. And, now with the discovery of a planet in the Alpha Centauri system, I think it's possible to say that there might be other planets in the system. So, when we do get there, humans may find a world to colonize. So, I think it possible that in one way, Star Trek might be prophetic - in "Return to Tomorrow", Captain Kirk said that humans went to the moon, went to Mars, and went to Alpha Centauri. I can see that progression happening within the next two thousand years.

[Deckerd]

I really don't think you appreciate the distances involved.

[Robert Maxwell]

Well, "within the next two thousand years" is broad enough that I can't say throwback is wrong.