An article about the realities of warp drive. It seems that bending the fabric of space and having a particular shaped spaceship can bring the reality of warp drive a little closer to us humans. I share with all the space-farers and dreamers out there.

An article about the realities of warp drive. It seems that bending the fabric of space and having a particular shaped spaceship can bring the reality of warp drive a little closer to us humans. I share with all the space-farers and dreamers out there.

*like x100 million*

still, if we're talking energy in terms of literal mass, then the equilvalant mass energy of even something like the voyager probe is pretty insane.

I just shared that on Google+, and requested NASA to please hurry, because I want one.

Yes, this is likely to become a consumer device within the next 50 years, because it's both achievable and safe.

An Alcubierre warp drive would involve a football-shape spacecraft attached to a large ring encircling it. This ring, potentially made of exotic matter, would cause space-time to warp around the starship, creating a region of contracted space in front of it and expanded space behind.[/quote]

Ooooh, sweet! It's made of Unobtainium!!

Is the space-time bending information faster than light?
I'm having the same problem with wormholes too. Don't you have to put the info to rip the space-time fabric at the other side of a forming wormhole?

I guess it's another misinterpretation (sensationalist or unintentional) of a some published thought experiment which involves a few impossible fundamentals (I haven't looked into it, but I sense there are two in this article: "exotic matter" and that the wave front of the bending is faster than light)

I can imagine in reality that the FTL in this case is relative, the outside observer won't see it as FTL, or maybe you'd have to bend the whole universe, which may take a few billion years.

Anyhoo, I'm just throwing out ideas and I believe more in infinite improbability drive.

s the space-time bending information faster than light?
I'm having the same problem with wormholes too. Don't you have to put the info to rip the space-time fabric at the other side of a forming wormhole?

Basically, space-time is "warped" around the hypothetical warp-capable starship, up to a point where the "warp bubble" physically detaches itself from the rest of space-time and becomes a self-contained space-time bubble. At this point, the bubble itself (being space-time) is capable of moving faster than light by definition, however the occupants of the bubble have zero acceleration, zero velocity with respect to the space inside the bubble. When the bubble has reached its destination in the larger space-time, it collapses, leaving the starship free to carry out whatever it was supposed to do. At least that's my take on it.

One thing that doesn't seem clear to me is what happens when the bubble collapses - I would think nature has a trick up its sleeves for us, such as when the bubble collapses, everything inside it is annihilated. Or perhaps the bubble cannot collapse and its occupants remain trapped forever, unable to ever influence normal space-time again.

Hmm...

That article was less informative than a typical Popular Science stick -

" theoretical science is theoretical "

still, if we're talking energy in terms of literal mass, then the equilvalant mass energy of even something like the voyager probe is pretty insane.

Google tells me that Voyager II masses 720 kg. Wolfram Alpha says that 720 kg is roughly equivalent to 10^10 tons of TNT, or about 60% of annual US energy consumption.

That's really not all that bad - it's conceivable that human technology could pack that much of a punch, energy-wise, in the next hundred or so years.

[quote name='slicer4ever' timestamp='1347934632' post='4981109']
still, if we're talking energy in terms of literal mass, then the equilvalant mass energy of even something like the voyager probe is pretty insane.

Google tells me that Voyager II masses 720 kg. Wolfram Alpha says that 720 kg is roughly equivalent to 10^10 tons of TNT, or about 60% of annual US energy consumption.

That's really not all that bad - it's conceivable that human technology could pack that much of a punch, energy-wise, in the next hundred or so years.
[/quote]

i'm assuming that it needs to be at a constant output to maintain the warped space(although the article talks about oscillating could reduce the power needed), so that means the device powering it has to be capable of powering pretty much the entire world today...constantly.

fusion reactors might be viable, but we'll see I suppose, we've still got a few other problems to overcome, like figuring out how to make something out of "exotic particles"

One thing that doesn't seem clear to me is what happens when the bubble collapses - I would think nature has a trick up its sleeves for us, such as when the bubble collapses, everything inside it is annihilated. Or perhaps the bubble cannot collapse and its occupants remain trapped forever, unable to ever influence normal space-time again.
Hmm...

how about what happens to the surrounding space of the bubble?, what happens if something is in between the warped space/normal space(does it get shred to pieces?).

I suppose the only way we will know is when/if we can ever achieve this.