WARP DRIVE and the new STAR TREK

J-Man

Old as Yoda
Jan 11, 2005
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Since the new Star Trek movie is on the way i thought i would throw this out there for discussion>

Will we every have Warp Drive?
 
I think it's only a matter of time before we hit the next generation (no pun intended) in propelling objects through space. Will it be in our lifetime? I doubt it, but say in 3-400 years? Could be a possibility. A lot depends on what kind of investment is made in furthering our reach into space. Not just NASA-like agencies, but the sciences that support it. Will it be dilithium crystals:), ion drive, solar sails, or something so radical that we don't even know it exists? Who knows? The stuff they study at Fermilab and the Hadron Collider will probably open the door to this technology. Long before we were born, (and THAT'S a long time ago!) people never thought we'd be able to fly across our countries, or the oceans. All it takes is the right discovery, and the right people or group of people to have the balls to try...
 
I don't know that faster-than-light travel isn't a physical impossibility for human beings. An object would be easier to transport at those kinds of speeds, but without some sort of "inertial dampeners" (sorry, I can't think of a better phrase) would the human body be able to take th sheer forces involved?

Then again, as my brilliant husband and JW point out, not long ago, most would have been laughing at the idea of much of what we take for granted today.
 
There is a book out there called The physics of Star Trek. Started reading it and after a while put it down as it really gets deeply into the physics end (and here i thought it would be a good lite read...lol). Need to try it again some day.

Basically, at this time, as we understand physics, warp drive is not possible. Of course if you buy into the premise that we do not fully understand physics...we only believe we do (think UFO's)....suppose anything is possible and likely probable given enough time.
 
By the way there is a theory of Warp Drive that is being researched as we speak.

It's called the Alcubierre Drive

The Alcubierre metric, also known as the Alcubierre drive or Warp Drive, is a speculative mathematical model of a spacetime exhibiting features reminiscent of the fictional "warp drive" from Star Trek, which can travel "Faster-than-light" (although not in a local sense - see below).

In 1994, the Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed a method of stretching space in a wave which would in theory cause the fabric of space ahead of a spacecraft to contract and the space behind it to expand.[1] The ship would ride this wave inside a region known as a warp bubble of flat space. Since the ship is not moving within this bubble, but carried along as the region itself moves, conventional relativistic effects such as time dilation do not apply in the way they would in the case of a ship moving at high velocity through flat spacetime. Also, this method of travel does not actually involve moving faster than light in a local sense, since a light beam within the bubble would still always move faster than the ship; it is only "faster than light" in the sense that, thanks to the contraction of the space in front of it, the ship could reach its destination faster than a light beam restricted to travelling outside the warp bubble. Thus, the Alcubierre drive does not contradict the conventional claim that relativity forbids a slower-than-light object to accelerate to faster-than-light speeds. However, there are no known methods to create such a warp bubble in a region that does not already contain one, or to leave the bubble once inside it, so the Alcubierre drive remains a theoretical concept at this time.
 
I don't think "warp drive" will ever be practicable, but of course relativistic near-lightspeed travel -- using fusion ramscoops or maybe ion drive -- will eventually be practicable. Not quite as sexy, but it will get us to other star-systems.

We've finally discovered Earth-sized planets outside the Solar system (last week, in fact), so eventually we'll have some places to go. :)
 
Speaking of "new science", there's a movie that's coming out later this summer called 'Moon'... It's an independent film that involves mining the moon for clean burning energy for earth.. The science part is, is that Helium 3 is very rare on earth but plentiful on the moon and can be used in cold fusion/ clean burning energy...

Those I've heard that have seen the movie 'Moon' have raved about it (it was written and directed by David Bowie's son, Duncan Jones and features Sam Rockwell and the voice of Kevin Spacey
 
Yeah I wouldnt mind an ION cigar lighter that would be cool. LOL

Here are some other technologies that are pretty interesting.

Plasma Stealth
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Plasma_stealth
http://www.military-heat.com/43/russian-plasma-stealth-fighters/

Plasma Cannon
http://warfare.ru/?linkid=2545&catid=329

Microwave weapons
drill- http://www.engadget.com/2006/08/23/researchers-create-microwave-drill-death-ray/
cannon- http://www.newscientist.com/article/mg18725095.600

Robotics
mule- http://www.engadget.com/tag/bigdog
There are tons of various UAVs out there the latest is Boeing is going to turn one into a fighter.
 
Plasma cannons? Someone cue up some Slough Feg, as it's time to play Traveller again. :heh:



Speaking of "new science", there's a movie that's coming out later this summer called 'Moon'... It's an independent film that involves mining the moon for clean burning energy for earth.. The science part is, is that Helium 3 is very rare on earth but plentiful on the moon and can be used in cold fusion/ clean burning energy...

Sounds a bit silly. "Cold fusion" was shown to be an anomaly several years ago, iirc. And why Helium 3?

"Hot" fusion, however, is still quite viable and doesn't need anything rare, just hydrogen, which we have LOTS of. The ITER Project, currently being built in Southern France, is the global community's testbed for viable hot-fusion power plants, which, as any reader of good SF already knows, will eventually be humanity's source of electricity.
:kickass:

Bittersweet news for the United States, though, since at last report, the Obama Administration was strongly considering pulling U.S. funding out of the project. Apparently the word "nuclear" is still scary to people who don't understand the complete difference between nuclear fission and nuclear fusion...two completely different processes that just happen to involve the nucleus of an atom. :erk: