^ I don't expect some mad scientist to invent it in his garage, I don't expect it to be invented anytime in the foreseeable future if ti is possibly. Warp Drive is something at the theoretical stage, some idea physicists toy with on their lunch breaks, but their day jobs don't include building one. We haven't even got artificial gravity, and before we can build warp drive, we need to figure out a way to generate gravity, or create degenerate matter, we need to protect spaceships from the tidal forces created, so warp drive is at the chalkboard stage, much like string theory and other stuff like that. For real world physics, I'd stick with reaction drives, nuclear power plants, Einstein and Newton.
Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say
- Thread starter EJD1984
- Start date
I do not see anyrhing quantitatively new that has not been discussed before.
I think the redshift is easily calculated because the sender isn't undergoing time dilation. The sender traveling to Alpha Centauri sends 5 months (their perceived time) worth of data, which gets strung out from Earth to Alpha Centauri, so the end of their message arrives 4.2 years later, a factor of 10 (their velocity in C). So a 20 GHz signal arrives at a frequency of 2 GHz.
What new is the experiment to actually detect the effect in a lab, which as this or another article pointed out, is like the first reactor pile in Chicago that generated a fractional Watt, establishing that a nuclear chain reaction could generate measureable energy. A couple years later we were generating megawatts.
If they can generate a field and measure the tiniest change in the speed of light, the rest is engineering.
For most of human history, exploring, trading and even patrolling military ships were out of contact for months at a time while at sea and the fastest way to send a message anywhere was to hand it over to a ship heading in that direction.
It would be risky, but it wouldn't be an unprecedented feet for explorers to be out of touch. We send a ship to Alpha Centauri, we hear of their year long exploits in the system when they come home two years later.
In other news, my wife usually keeps a few kilograms of exotic matter in the back of the fridge, which I would be willing to donate to the cause.
You really should research what you're talking about. This isn't some "mad scientist in a garage", it's a NASA funded and run project. It IS their day job.
The new bits are the amount of energy required being substantially reduced and the table top experiment.
Two gripes:
1. This thread is a repost.
2. That's either a rugby ball or an American handegg. It's not a football. Footballs are spherical.
Other than that, this is the most exciting news I have read in a long long time.
1. This thread is a repost.
2. That's either a rugby ball or an American handegg. It's not a football. Footballs are spherical.
Other than that, this is the most exciting news I have read in a long long time.
That precludes two-way communication. Unless, of course, that's not something you care too much about.
Not in America. The article was written there.
I would like to know why Mr. Harold White states that the ship must be in the shape of a 'football' - pointed on each end (as shown in the image). It would seem to me that the ship (proper) could be any shape. The shape of the exotic matter torus would have effect on the warp bubble function. But, the ship is within a 'contained' normal space-time, inside of the warp bubble. So... why would a sphere, a cube, or any other shape of ship not work inside of the exotic matter warp torus? Normal space-time is passed 'around' the outside of the torus, and not 'through' it's open center... correct?
Corrected that for you. A "football shape" is a sphere.
Really? Where?
In America, a football would mean an American Football football. That is not round.
In Australia, a football could mean the ball used in any of: Australian Football, Rugby Union Football, Rugby League Football, or Association Football.
In Ireland, I believe, a football generally means a Gaelic Football. Unless the person using the word means a rugby or association football.
I admit I don't know what I would get if in England if I asked for a football without specifying which of the three versions played professionally there or any of them versions played by amateurs only.
This is a thread about a warp drive, not a thread to parse the incredibly array of meanings that the word football provides.
Yeah, Rugby is a type of football that arguably is older than the changed "safer" version of football that is Association rules (it's weird to think that they came from the same sport, but they certainly do).
^ Quite right, the discussion has devolved into the merits of American Football vs Rugby and Soccer, so I'm not taking it seriously at this point till we get it back on track.
An a more serious note, I'd be surprised if there is anything more to this than Cold Fusion. I remember those claims of those two scientists who claimed to have discovered Cold Fusion and for a week or so, the newspapers and magazines were filled with discussions about how Cold Fusion would change our society.
An a more serious note, I'd be surprised if there is anything more to this than Cold Fusion. I remember those claims of those two scientists who claimed to have discovered Cold Fusion and for a week or so, the newspapers and magazines were filled with discussions about how Cold Fusion would change our society.
Well, to be fair, Cold Fusion WOULD change our society. There is nothing wrong with having healthy discussions on the ways cold fusion could be used.
