NASA admits to working on faster than light travel. The Alcubierre Drive!

Well folks, we may be closer to Star Trek than you think. It's still in a speculative stage, but I have faith in our scientists. They are eventually going to figure this out. I hope it's during my lifetime.

Here's the NASA link:

www.nasa.gov...

Anyone have anything to say? Do you think the Alcubierre Drive is the key to FTL travel? I'm staying on top of this, so any additional info/speculation is more than welcome. So Exciting! )

Ok, so we know what the speed of light is - My question is, what is the speed of dark?

reply to post by MilesTeg

Cool. But can you point to the part where it says NASA is working on it?

Oh...wait

Status of the NASA Breakthrough Propulsion Physics (BPP) Project

All NASA support to sustain cognizance on these possibilities has been withdrawn as of October 1, 2008. The final NASA contribution was to assist in the compilation of a graduate-level technical book, Frontiers of Propulsion Science, which is due out in early 2009. This book (750 pages, hardback) will be volume 227 of the series, Progress in Astronautics and Aeronautics Series, which will be published by American Institute for Aeronautics and Astronautics (AIAA).

www.grc.nasa.gov...

Well, the page linked in the OP makes no such claim as far as I could see when I read it. Following the link to the Alcubierre drive description, you can read this about the downside:

Any other sticky issues?

Yes... First, to create this effect, you’ll need a ring of negative energy wrapped around the ship, and lots of it too. It is still debated in physics whether negative energy can exist. Classical physics tends toward a "no," while quantum physics leans to a "maybe, yes." Second, you’ll need a way to control this effect to turn it on and off at will. This will be especially tricky since this warp effect is a separate effect from the ship. Third, all this assumes that this whole "warp" would indeed move faster than the speed of light. This is a big unknown. And fourth, if all the previous issues weren’t tough enough, these concepts evoke the same time-travel paradoxes as the wormhole concepts.

Source


So, IF negative energy exists, It may NOT be controllable since the effect is separate from the ship, there's NO proof the field even could move faster than light, and you STILL are subject to the potential time paradoxes of classic SciFi.

I would love this to be true, but, the OP claim is a bit, OK a lot, premature IMO.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by MilesTeg

 

Cool. But can you point to the part where it says NASA is working on it?

Oh...wait

You know Phage with thinking like yours it's a wonder we ever made it out of the cave...

Open your eyes of late? the whole internet has been a wash with this info for well over a year now...

Warp Drive May Be More Feasible Than Thought, Scientists Say

HOUSTON — A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel — a concept popularized in television's Star Trek — may not be as unrealistic as once thought, scientists say.

A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster than light. A concept for a real-life warp drive was suggested in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre; however, subsequent calculations found that such a device would require prohibitive amounts of energy.

Now physicists say that adjustments can be made to the proposed warp drive that would enable it to run on significantly less energy, potentially bringing the idea back from the realm of science fiction into science.

I'm all for the scientific method Phage... but what is science if not for imagination?

Korg.

reply to post by Korg Trinity

I'm all for the scientific method Phage... but what is science if not for imagination?

Not much. Except for maybe improving the quality of life a bit as well.

But it wasn't my imagination which said that NASA is not working on an FTL drive.

Worm Hole transportation
Alcubierre’s "Warp Drive"
Is there any work being done to search for these breakthroughs? Yes, but not much.

I'm supposing the OP saw the word "yes", and decided it was worth a new thread.

If we develop FTL drives then we will have to come up with far better metallurgy than what we have now. Because the metals we have no in no way could survive the impact of a micrometeorite going at light speed.

40 /50 million americans on food stamps people sleeping in storm drains and nasa working on a faster than light drive .

good to have our prioritys right

Originally posted by billdadobbie
40 /50 million americans on food stamps people sleeping in storm drains and nasa working on a faster than light drive .

good to have our prioritys right

NASA has nothing to do with the homeless. Also their budget has been cut to the bone despite all the advances that has come out of NASA.

Double post.

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Korg Trinity

 

I'm all for the scientific method Phage... but what is science if not for imagination?

Not much. Except for maybe improving the quality of life a bit as well.

But it wasn't my imagination which said that NASA is not working on an FTL drive.

edit on 6/2/2013 by Phage because: (no reason given)

No it wasn't, it did however totally skip over the point of the thread... the very real possibility of a warp drive.

Admittedly I doubt the OP read the source in its entirety, but think we are all guilty of that at some point here on ats,

But let's not detract from the concept of Warp...

Here's more on the subject.



and here is original White and Davis white paper on the theory.

The Alcubierre Warp Drive in Higher Dimensional Spacetime

Pretty compelling stuff wouldn't you say?

Here is a NASA white paper on Warp Field Mechanics.

Warp Field Mechanics 101

Peace,

Korg.

reply to post by Korg Trinity

Absolutely compelling. I love the idea of manipulating space time. The idea of surfing a wave of it is really cool and it's probably the most "viable" notion out there.

But very difficult to create a prototype (as well as powering it) Also might cause problems if engaged anywhere near a planetary system, I would think.

Originally posted by buster2010

Originally posted by billdadobbie
40 /50 million americans on food stamps people sleeping in storm drains and nasa working on a faster than light drive .

good to have our prioritys right

NASA has nothing to do with the homeless. Also their budget has been cut to the bone despite all the advances that has come out of NASA.

i prefer buttons to velcrow fresh food to freeze dried and still use a pencil

Originally posted by buster2010

Originally posted by billdadobbie
40 /50 million americans on food stamps people sleeping in storm drains and nasa working on a faster than light drive .

good to have our prioritys right

NASA has nothing to do with the homeless. Also their budget has been cut to the bone despite all the advances that has come out of NASA.

the only thing i dislike with this is the whole "reasonable suspicion" part. this is america and people don't need to "show their papers" before they can go about their business.

Originally posted by Phage
Also might cause problems if engaged anywhere near a planetary system, I would think.

Not to mention navigational issues.

Even if it were possible to plot a course, you would have to have instantaneous scanning of a multiple light year radius down to a micro meter resolution. Then you would have to have a computer that could accurately model and predict the trajectories of all objects within the scan field.

When constructing a star ship the drive is likely to be one of the easier parts to fabricate imho...

Korg.

Originally posted by WP4YT

Originally posted by buster2010

Originally posted by billdadobbie
40 /50 million americans on food stamps people sleeping in storm drains and nasa working on a faster than light drive .

good to have our prioritys right

NASA has nothing to do with the homeless. Also their budget has been cut to the bone despite all the advances that has come out of NASA.

the only thing i dislike with this is the whole "reasonable suspicion" part. this is america and people don't need to "show their papers" before they can go about their business.

What on Earth does that have to do with what we were talking about?

Originally posted by Phage
reply to post by Korg Trinity

 

Absolutely compelling. I love the idea of manipulating space time. The idea of surfing a wave of it is really cool and it's probably the most "viable" notion out there.

But very difficult to create a prototype (as well as powering it) Also might cause problems if engaged anywhere near a planetary system, I would think.

There is another problem that we would have address with a ship that is designed like this. The vessel would get hotter than the core of the sun.

Originally posted by billdadobbie
40 /50 million americans on food stamps people sleeping in storm drains and nasa working on a faster than light drive .

good to have our prioritys right

And over a billion humans starving everyday, so what's your point?

Humanity hasn't even reached a "Type 0" stage yet, let alone traversing into space...

Originally posted by HomoSapiensSapiens

Originally posted by billdadobbie
40 /50 million americans on food stamps people sleeping in storm drains and nasa working on a faster than light drive .

good to have our prioritys right

And over a billion humans starving everyday, so what's your point?

Humanity hasn't even reached a "Type 0" stage yet, let alone traversing into space...

nasa cannot get back or afford to go to the moon or mars ? the money could be better spent at home that was the point i was making