If you were to build a ftl drive what would it look like

[john titor]

What components would you use, how would they be linked up and what shape/size would they be. Example, the 3 solar masses collapse unit would be connected to the gravity distortion device. Thats a crude example, I want something from a physicists perspective. I'm thinking of an alcubierre drive but if you have alternative solutions please feel free to contribute. I need a description of the unit for a projekt.

 

[Lindley]

It would look like a Klein bottle. And it would be purple.

 

[Trekker4747]

Mine would involve magnets and VTOL engines.

 

[iguana_tonante]

^ specifically, tachyon magnets. And fire. Lots of fire. It would be legendary.

 

[SiorX]

I'm not entirely sure how mine would look yet, but the cockpit would need to be quite big so the T-Rex doesn't keep hitting buttons with his tail whenever he turns around.

 

[little_chris]

Mine would spin.

Because spinning is so much cooler than not spinning.

 

[sojourner]

Mine would have I am Legend in the center with John Titor just in front of him. I would paint both of them plaid.

 

[PorthosShadow]

Mine would be an old refridgerator with some cool raceing stripes on the side. Then once in orbit a string of milk jugs would fan out from the sides and whooooooooooooooz!

 

[Trekker4747]

I do know a source of ifinite energy. It involves a cat and a slice of buttered bread.

 

[sojourner]

^ no, no, no, that's the source of antigravity!

 

[Skywalker]

A really, really, really big hamster.

 

[Zachary Smith]

 

[ThankQ]

Rather than build an FTL craft or engine, wouldn't it be simpler to bend the 5th dimension into the 4th so you could occupy any point in the universe at any time in...time?

(I may have gotten the dimensions wrong, and the bending direction wrong, my QED comprehension is still in its infancy)

 

[Asbo Zaprudder]

If it's FTL, how would you be able to see it?

 

[Jadzia]

Some of the popular ideas utilize frame dragging, hypothesized to occur in the vicinity of Kerr black holes. The idea is that you can accelerate close to light speed, then cross into the ergosphere, and with the frame dragging effect your velocity relative to your starting point is predicted to be higher than light speed.

Another idea using high energy lasers is perhaps more ripe for experimentation. Apparently light exhibits the frame dragging effect more potently than was at first believed. The idea here is that a tunnel of laser beams will (rather like a coil/solenoid) amplify the effect enough to cause a photon passing through the tunnel (at light speed) to be dragged into a greater (FTL) velocity.

 

[john titor]

Some of the popular ideas utilize frame dragging, hypothesized to occur in the vicinity of Kerr black holes. The idea is that you can accelerate close to light speed, then cross into the ergosphere, and with the frame dragging effect your velocity relative to your starting point is predicted to be higher than light speed.

Another idea using high energy lasers is perhaps more ripe for experimentation. Apparently light exhibits the frame dragging effect more potently than was at first believed. The idea here is that a tunnel of laser beams will (rather like a coil/solenoid) amplify the effect enough to cause a photon passing through the tunnel (at light speed) to be dragged into a greater (FTL) velocity.

This is really good stuff. How would the latter approach work on a ship, in terms of design? How would you propose to build an ftl drive based on these theories, schematics for how it could hypothetically work would be great if possible.

 

[Geckothan]

A 1950s police box, blue.

 

[ProtoAvatar]

Some of the popular ideas utilize frame dragging, hypothesized to occur in the vicinity of Kerr black holes. The idea is that you can accelerate close to light speed, then cross into the ergosphere, and with the frame dragging effect your velocity relative to your starting point is predicted to be higher than light speed.

Another idea using high energy lasers is perhaps more ripe for experimentation. Apparently light exhibits the frame dragging effect more potently than was at first believed. The idea here is that a tunnel of laser beams will (rather like a coil/solenoid) amplify the effect enough to cause a photon passing through the tunnel (at light speed) to be dragged into a greater (FTL) velocity.

These ideas are primarily time machines.
You travel (a little) faster than light into the past - and, unless you use truly impractical (and I mean IMPRACTICAL) amounts of energy (or find a huge rotating black hole around which you..rotate, going nowhere in space), your travel through space is only a little better than near-light-speed travel.

Fortunately, john titor doesn't seem to realise this.

 

[John Picard]

If I built an FTL drive, it would be large and sleek with analog gauges, switches, and buttons. None of that "high tech" fancy touch screen bullshit with computer generated displays. I want something reliable, old school, and easy to work on and repair in a dire emergency.

Oh, and the exterior would have a slick paint job.

 

[john titor]

Some of the popular ideas utilize frame dragging, hypothesized to occur in the vicinity of Kerr black holes. The idea is that you can accelerate close to light speed, then cross into the ergosphere, and with the frame dragging effect your velocity relative to your starting point is predicted to be higher than light speed.

Another idea using high energy lasers is perhaps more ripe for experimentation. Apparently light exhibits the frame dragging effect more potently than was at first believed. The idea here is that a tunnel of laser beams will (rather like a coil/solenoid) amplify the effect enough to cause a photon passing through the tunnel (at light speed) to be dragged into a greater (FTL) velocity.

These ideas are primarily time machines.
You travel (a little) faster than light into the past - and, unless you use truly impractical (and I mean IMPRACTICAL) amounts of energy (or find a huge rotating black hole around which you..rotate, going nowhere in space), your travel through space is only a little better than near-light-speed travel.

Fortunately, john titor doesn't seem to realise this.

Actually I did, I just couldn't be bothered to signal it out to you.