Here Is a link to the Article about this:
http://www.design-engineering.com/general/nasa-scientist-unveils-warp-drive-spaceship-concept-131758
Art credit on this is to Mark Rademaker
More art of the craft and fan art Links:
http://kotaku.com/the-kerbal-version-of-nasas-warp-drive-ship-is-just-as-1590347635
Full shot of the craft in this link!http://myscienceacademy.org/2014/06/12/nasas-design-a-real-warp-drive-ship/
Dr White a NASA scientist in Houston, said IXS Enterprise could reach Alpha Centauri in two weeks!
Here is a video showcasing the ship:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4zPOxm6r__A
Here is the technical minutia for the physics behind it, and shows they are still researching this actively:
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=vKTgNCGhq9Y
I wonder if the windows in the front are going to be a bar like ten forward, lol i'll have a drink and watch space time contract, that would be amazing to watch!
The back of the ship would use a Q-drive to create a moveable thrust when not using the Warp Drive.
there is a theory in the works, and it involves the Higgs Boson and artificial micro singularities as a source of power, which if they can get that fuel source in hand, they could then generate the warp fields necessary, there is also the antimatter angle, but that side of the science is so far out of whack, and dangerous, it makes creating a stabilized field of gravity more likely..Of course if containment were lost the ship would fold in on itself, unless they had a core ejection system, also communication is an issue because you would need a subspace channel, and since we haven't gotten there yet, it could mean if there were problems, you would have to wait in space for years before rescue even got your message.
I do believe tho, that I read an article on the micro singularity option as the exotic fuel source that they could also use that to create wormholes, which could be used to send communications through, which the ship could not go in because those micro wormholes would only be big enough to send messages.
Here is the kicker for what you and I want..
If they are able to develop a stabilized micro singularity using the Higgs Boson to control the mass, and time affects around the source, that is the initial step to developing eye of harmony technology and that data would be very valuable to understanding the nature of singularity and mass and gravity. Some micro singularities would collapse instantly because of the pressures of our space, but if you can find the harmony of space, and pressure without it growing in scale, you can create a stabilized micro singularity..or so the theory goes. It's still in it's infancy. But very promising. CERN will be the key in developing this type of fuel source I imagine.
Now here is another interesting thing about this Warp Drive ship being considered. To make this technology similar to that used by star trek, a physicist friend of mine has a theory that if we do become a warp capable species, that eventually the population of Earth will ossify into large centers of population with minimal rural areas of robotic farming. That with the application of Warp Drive, much of our race will be spanning out into the universe with colonies under an earth federation or empire. In that scenario, the Technology behind Warping space can lead to great strides in transportation especially with Einstein/Rosen bridges, leading to the replacement of cars, with high speed rails, and international and national travel being centered around wormhole ports as apposed to airports. With such transformational technology coming into focus, the application and implications for resource preservation and ecological protections are staggering. Not to mention the use of the Wormhole as a viable alternative to the particle transporter, which is not viable if you want to beam down to a planet. My friend has created a pod like design that is essentially a wormhole robot. What happens is, the Enterprise above reaches a world. It then launches a probe to the surface carrying this sphere. once landed, the sphere sets up and breaks into a ring, which then acts as the wormhole connection to the ship, and instead of needing a flier to reach the surface while the ship is in orbit, the crew, just walks through on to the surface. Now that is amazingly simple and solves the need to develop teleportation technology. It also would be how faster then light real time communication could occur between the warp drive ship and other ships, or home base..
Here is to the future Starfleet Academy!
The sphere idea, it means being able to open it two ways, one from the planet and one from ship as long as they bridge the connections and account of for the planetary drifts, and orbit of the ship.
