New warp drive research dashes faster-than-light travel dreams

[Judi Lynn]

But reveals stranger possibilities.

By Sam Baron, Australian Catholic University

In 1994, physicist Miguel Alcubierre proposed a radical technology that would allow faster than light travel: the warp drive, a hypothetical way to skirt around the universe’s ultimate speed limit by bending the fabric of reality.

It was an intriguing idea – even NASA has been researching it at the Eagleworks laboratory – but Alcubierre’s proposal contained problems that seemed insurmountable. Now, a recent paper by US-based physicists Alexey Bobrick and Gianni Martire has resolved many of those issues and generated a lot of buzz.

But while Bobrick and Martire have managed to substantially demystify warp technology, their work actually suggests that faster-than-light travel will remain out of reach for beings like us, at least for the time being.

There is, however, a silver lining: warp technology may have radical applications beyond space travel.

Across the universe?
The story of warp drives starts with Einstein’s crowning achievement: general relativity. The equations of general relativity capture the way in which spacetime – the very fabric of reality – bends in response to the presence of matter and energy which, in turn, explains how matter and energy move.

More:
https://cosmosmagazine.com/science/physics/new-warp-drive-research-dashes-faster-than-light-travel-dreams/

[msongs]

1. imagine your spaceship hitting a meteor at the speed of light. smasheroo nt

[PJMcK]

2. Actually, you'd have a pretty big problem at sub-light speeds, too (n/t)

[Fullduplexxx]

3. Or anything the size of a grain of sand

[SCantiGOP]

9. Just moving at the speed of objects in Earth orbit

a paint chip barely large enough to see can cause a breach of a capsule.
Something like a screw could destroy a capsule.

[Fullduplexxx]

10. Correct hitting a fleck of anything at not even near light speed would be the end

[soothsayer]

4. Use your shields

[SCantiGOP]

11. Shields down to 20% Captain

Arm photon torpedoes.

[LuvLoogie]

5. Our perception of reality always lags reality.

Acting upon our free choices is predetermined.

Only the past exists for us.

Curiosity and Hope keep us in the game.

That and dilithium crystals.

[Wounded Bear]

6. Bad news about FTL, but interesting read regardless...nt

[Javaman]

7. but isn't warp drive NOT FTL travel?

the warping of space is not the same as traveling faster than light, no?

(just a hint about myself, I don't know what I'm talking about LOL)

[TexasTowelie]

8. Here is another article related to this topic:

Warp drives: Physicists give chances of faster-than-light space travel a boost
https://theconversation.com/warp-drives-physicists-give-chances-of-faster-than-light-space-travel-a-boost-157391

[SCantiGOP]

12. Right, Javaman

Good explanation I heard:
I need to drive from Atlanta to LA in an hour, but my vehicle can’t go over 100 mph.
Solution is to “fold” the map so Atlanta and LA are only 50 miles apart.

[walpurgis]

13. Your forgetting

The alcubierre drive doesn't move the space around it does. And you don't get time dilation, in other words if you travel 10,000 light years relativity wont kick in. It will be like a second to you and everyone else. Now thats cool.