Star Trek's Warp Drive: Are We There Yet?

Started by freeflight, June 05, 2009, 11:26:52 PM

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freeflight

Marc Millis, former head of NASA's Breakthrough Propulsion Physics Project, explains how physicists approach the intriguing possibility of faster-than-light travel.

http://www.space.com/common/media/video/player.php?videoRef=SP_090505_mark_millis

BrandonKea

Now we just wait for 2030 for Zefram Cochrane to be born, and another 33 years on top of that for First Contact.... get a book folks, it could be awhile.
Brandon Kea, Capt, CAP

PHall

This may be an interesting read for some of you.

The Physics Of Star Trek by Lawrence M. Krauss.

ol'fido

" I don't know where we're going, but we're making great time."
                                                             -Hikaru Sulu :D :D
Lt. Col. Randy L. Mitchell
Historian, Group 1, IL-006

Gunner C


flyerthom

Sure we have! All you need to do is get on Interstate 80, look for <insert license plate of state to be insulted> wait for it to pass and then yell LOOK AT THAT IDIOT FROM ________. WHAT! DOES HE THINK HE'S CAPTIAN PICAARD HE MUST BE DOING WARP FACTOR 9!  >:D
TC

PHall

Quote from: flyerthom on June 07, 2009, 12:33:40 AM
Sure we have! All you need to do is get on Interstate 80, look for <insert license plate of state to be insulted> wait for it to pass and then yell LOOK AT THAT IDIOT FROM ________. WHAT! DOES HE THINK HE'S CAPTIAN PICAARD HE MUST BE DOING WARP FACTOR 9!  >:D

If you're going to make fun of Star Trek, at least spell the names right. >:(
It's Picard, one "A", not two.

SarDragon

And Captain, not Captian!

So there!

Live long and prosper.
Dave Bowles
Maj, CAP
AT1, USN Retired
50 Year Member
Mitchell Award (unnumbered)
C/WO, CAP, Ret

BrandonKea

Quote from: PHall on June 07, 2009, 12:52:12 AM
Quote from: flyerthom on June 07, 2009, 12:33:40 AM
Sure we have! All you need to do is get on Interstate 80, look for <insert license plate of state to be insulted> wait for it to pass and then yell LOOK AT THAT IDIOT FROM ________. WHAT! DOES HE THINK HE'S CAPTIAN PICAARD HE MUST BE DOING WARP FACTOR 9!  >:D

If you're going to make fun of Star Trek, at least spell the names right. >:(
It's Picard, one "A", not two.

UGH! I hate people that call it Star Track!! The worst was the Burger King I passed that had the letter sign for the promo glasses that said "STAR TRAC GLASSES $4.99"

C'MON! It's right in front of them, and they couldn't spell it right!

/rant
Brandon Kea, Capt, CAP

Rob Sherlin

Errr......I'm starting to think a lot of you keep latex vulcan ears next to your CAP uniform....lol....jk
To fly freely above the earth is the ultimate dream for me in life.....For I do not wish to wait till I pass to earn my wings.

Rob Sherlin SM, NER-NY-116

CadetProgramGuy

Quote from: Rob Sherlin on June 08, 2009, 09:38:36 AM
Errr......I'm starting to think a lot of you keep latex vulcan ears next to your CAP uniform....lol....jk

Its the "other" CAP uniform.....

wuzafuzz

#11
Quote from: CadetProgramGuy on June 08, 2009, 09:39:44 AM
Quote from: Rob Sherlin on June 08, 2009, 09:38:36 AM
Errr......I'm starting to think a lot of you keep latex vulcan ears next to your CAP uniform....lol....jk

Its the "other" CAP uniform.....

ROFL.  I think Star Trek has shown us fewer Starfleet uniforms over 100 years than CAP has currently.   :angel:

I don't have Vulcan ears hidden away anywhere, I don't speak or read Klingon, and I didn't wear a Starfleet uniform at my wedding(s).  SO, it's possible someone with "more stripes" will prove me wrong.

Speaking of Warp Drive, I have been accused of traveling at warp speeds back when I was piloting a patrol car.   ;D   The time on my watch matched everyone else's when I arrived, so I wasn't quite that fast.
"You can't stop the signal, Mal."

JoeTomasone

Quote from: olefido on June 06, 2009, 02:06:40 AM
" I don't know where we're going, but we're making great time."
                                                             -Hikaru Sulu :D :D


...Also attributed to several Mission Pilots.  :)


SJFedor

Quote from: wuzafuzz on June 08, 2009, 11:52:36 AM
...and I didn't wear a Starfleet uniform at my wedding(s). 

People seriously do that?!?!?

Wow.

Steven Fedor, NREMT-P
Master Ambulance Driver
Former Capt, MP, MCPE, MO, MS, GTL, and various other 3-and-4 letter combinations
NESA MAS Instructor, 2008-2010 (#479)

Major Carrales

The powers necessary to warp space as is done in Star Trek is not a reality by our current energy generating technology.

Let me explain...

Let us examine the attempts to prove Einsteins Theory of Relativity.  To do this a solar eclipse had to be observed, the stars that normally appear would be obscured in that the SUN distorted the space around itself.

The mass and gravity of the Sun, the most radiant object in the Solar System, is not even significant enough to WARP space at the level necessary to simulate faster than light speed.

Unless there exists a concept of physics yet to be explained or understood, WARP space is not possible.
"We have been given the power to change CAP, let's keep the momentum going!"

Major Joe Ely "Sparky" Carrales, CAP
Commander
Coastal Bend Cadet Squadron
SWR-TX-454

BrandonKea

Quote from: Major Carrales on June 09, 2009, 01:19:46 AM
The powers necessary to warp space as is done in Star Trek is not a reality by our current energy generating technology.

Let me explain...

Let us examine the attempts to prove Einsteins Theory of Relativity.  To do this a solar eclipse had to be observed, the stars that normally appear would be obscured in that the SUN distorted the space around itself.

The mass and gravity of the Sun, the most radiant object in the Solar System, is not even significant enough to WARP space at the level necessary to simulate faster than light speed.

Unless there exists a concept of physics yet to be explained or understood, WARP space is not possible.

:( Buzzkill
Brandon Kea, Capt, CAP

Rotorhead

Quote from: Major Carrales on June 09, 2009, 01:19:46 AM
The powers necessary to warp space as is done in Star Trek is not a reality by our current energy generating technology.

Let me explain...

Let us examine the attempts to prove Einsteins Theory of Relativity.  To do this a solar eclipse had to be observed, the stars that normally appear would be obscured in that the SUN distorted the space around itself.

The mass and gravity of the Sun, the most radiant object in the Solar System, is not even significant enough to WARP space at the level necessary to simulate faster than light speed.

Unless there exists a concept of physics yet to be explained or understood, WARP space is not possible.

Certainly, the person to develops the technology will NOT be one who says it is impossible.


Capt. Scott Orr, CAP
Deputy Commander/Cadets
Prescott Composite Sqdn. 206
Prescott, AZ

PHall

Quote from: Major Carrales on June 09, 2009, 01:19:46 AM
The powers necessary to warp space as is done in Star Trek is not a reality by our current energy generating technology.

Let me explain...

Let us examine the attempts to prove Einsteins Theory of Relativity.  To do this a solar eclipse had to be observed, the stars that normally appear would be obscured in that the SUN distorted the space around itself.

The mass and gravity of the Sun, the most radiant object in the Solar System, is not even significant enough to WARP space at the level necessary to simulate faster than light speed.

Unless there exists a concept of physics yet to be explained or understood, WARP space is not possible.

Probably because we haven't learned how to contain anti-matter, yet. (It does exist!)

Smithsonia

Warp speed is a story tellers device only. Otherwise every space adventure would have the crew sealed in lava lamp hibernation tubes for the entire movie.

I always appreciate when in Star Trek they say such and such a gallaxy is 10,000 light years and then proceed to jump to Warp factor 9 or 10... however instead of arriving in 1000 years from now (you do the math) they cut it down to 10 minutes. Even the writers of this alternate reality can't keep it straight in their heads. Why should any of you?

With regards;
ED OBRIEN

Eclipse

Quote from: Major Carrales on June 09, 2009, 01:19:46 AM
The powers necessary to warp space as is done in Star Trek is not a reality by our current energy generating technology.

The ability to light a light bulb, sustain and control a nuclear reaction, or communicate planet-wide didn't exist either, until they did.

"That Others May Zoom"

Eclipse

Quote from: Smithsonia on June 09, 2009, 03:38:00 AM
Warp speed is a story tellers device only. Otherwise every space adventure would have the crew sealed in lava lamp hibernation tubes for the entire movie.

I always appreciate when in Star Trek they say such and such a galaxy is 10,000 light years and then proceed to jump to Warp factor 9 or 10... however instead of arriving in 1000 years from now (you do the math) they cut it down to 10 minutes. Even the writers of this alternate reality can't keep it straight in their heads. Why should any of you?

Warp travel is not point-to-point in real space, its using an alternative, as yet inaccessible / undiscovered channel to bridge the distance point-to-point.

If you want a real relativistic headache, read some of Card's Ender's books.

"That Others May Zoom"

wuzafuzz

Quote from: Smithsonia on June 09, 2009, 03:38:00 AM
Warp speed is a story tellers device only. Otherwise every space adventure would have the crew sealed in lava lamp hibernation tubes for the entire movie.

I always appreciate when in Star Trek they say such and such a gallaxy is 10,000 light years and then proceed to jump to Warp factor 9 or 10... however instead of arriving in 1000 years from now (you do the math) they cut it down to 10 minutes. Even the writers of this alternate reality can't keep it straight in their heads. Why should any of you?
Warp drive rolls off the tongue so much easier than Tesseract drive, which pre-dates Star Trek by about 4 years.  (From A Wrinkle in Time, not geometry.)
"You can't stop the signal, Mal."

Rotorhead

Quote from: Smithsonia on June 09, 2009, 03:38:00 AM
Warp speed is a story tellers device only. Otherwise every space adventure would have the crew sealed in lava lamp hibernation tubes for the entire movie.

I always appreciate when in Star Trek they say such and such a gallaxy is 10,000 light years and then proceed to jump to Warp factor 9 or 10... however instead of arriving in 1000 years from now (you do the math) they cut it down to 10 minutes. Even the writers of this alternate reality can't keep it straight in their heads. Why should any of you?
Warp Factors are not a linear measurement.

The mathematical equation won't reproduce here, but it is available here: http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Warp_drive.

There's also this: "Exact velocities were only given in the Voyager episode The 37's where Tom Paris describes Voyager's velocity at warp factor 9.9 as being about 4 billion miles per second, which would be over 21000 times the speed of light."
Capt. Scott Orr, CAP
Deputy Commander/Cadets
Prescott Composite Sqdn. 206
Prescott, AZ

Eclipse

FWIW


In 2007, physicist Richard Obousy proposed that a warp drive could be created by directly manipulating the extra dimensions of string theory.[7] His idea suggests the expansion of space-time is a consequence of the vacuum ground-state of higher dimensional graviton fluctuations. The vacuum energy equations can be expressed as:



In this model, it is the radius of the extra dimensions that directly controls the expansion of space. Obousy suggests that it is superstrings that wrap around the extra dimensions and thusly keeping them compact, but that a sufficiently advanced civilization might influence a string and locally adjust the size of the extra dimension creating a controlled expansion and contraction of the space surrounding an interstellar craft. In July of 2008 it was reported that two Baylor University physicists have outlined how a faster-than-light engine could be created by manipulating the 11th dimension, a special theoretical construct of m-theory.

According to research by Finazzi, Liberati und Barceló the "warp bubble" seems to be unstable.

I hope that clears things up...

"That Others May Zoom"

BrandonKea

Brandon Kea, Capt, CAP

Smithsonia

Eclipse wrote:
Warp travel is not point-to-point in real space, its using an alternative, as yet inaccessible / undiscovered channel to bridge the distance point-to-point.

Ed O'Brien says:
To argue about the fiction in science fiction is worthless. New science will make some SiFi irrelevant and some prescient. I can't tell which will work out until the science comes along. I also can't account for all manner of concoction in the interim.

Science Fiction is a work of good storytelling first with splashes of good science for effect. The effect is to suspend disbelief. Suspending disbelief is the work of the writer. Proving something to the point of belief is the work of science. Don't confabulate the two.

"Confabulation: The building of fantasies and presentation in a logical manner for a personal agenda." All science fiction is confabulation - the personal agenda is book sales or respect. Some things will work out in the end, most won't. Science Fiction writers give us visions and dreams. Scientist and engineers give us reality.

You gotta know the point in which these two things are different. Otherwise all unidentified blinking lights in the sky become aliens from another dimension. AND, your mother a demon spawn from Hades that must be cleansed from the firmament. Crazy in -- gives you crazy out. Good writing in -- gives you nightmares or dreams and the rest we'll have to work out later.
With regards;
ED OBRIEN

jimmydeanno

Even if the discovery we make is not "Warp Drive," I am always amazed at the discoveries made in the process of trying to get there, sometimes far more [immediately] beneficial than the end product.

If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law. - Winston Churchill

Smithsonia

#27
I saw an interview with Gene Roddenberry regarding the "Transporter." It was a storytelling device he came up with to save money in the original Star Trek series. He couldn't afford to make a fully sized Space runabout that people walked in to and then project it into a model on the shuttle bay of the Enterprise.

Instead he came up with the a room of blinking lights and camera tricks and called it the "transporter." "Beam me up Scotty", was a tool, a device, to save production costs. Since then many people have confabulated science and storytelling to make the thing work. And now, there are actual scientists who postulate the science of the transporter. BUT, it is still and probably will remain a storytelling, production money saving device. Good story telling doesn't make it true. It makes you think it is true.

Oh and for my friend, colleague, and squadron mate Scott Orr/Rotorhead. 21000 times the speed of light going to a Galaxy 10,000 light years away makes the trip to that place 173 days or better than a year round trip. Meaning in a 5 year mission... 4-5 stories. The rest is travel time, BORING. "Warp drive" even if they get it working won't be worth much more than the near by cluster of suns and planets. You best hope they get it to 1000 times that 21,000 times the speed of light.
With regards;
ED OBRIEN

davidsinn

Quote from: Smithsonia on June 09, 2009, 02:57:43 PM
I saw an interview with Gene Roddenberry regarding the "Transporter." It was a storytelling device he came up with to save money in the original Star Trek series. He couldn't afford to make a fully sized Space runabout that people walked in to and then project it into a model on the shuttle bay of the Enterprise.

Instead he came up with the a room of blinking lights and camera tricks and called it the "transporter." "Beam me up Scotty", was a tool, a device, to save production costs. Since then many people have confabulated science and storytelling to make the thing work. And now, there are actual scientists who postulate the science of the transporter. BUT, it is still and probably will remain a storytelling, production money saving device. Good story telling doesn't make it true. It makes you think it is true.

Oh and for my friend, colleague, and squadron mate Scott Orr/Rotorhead. 21000 times the speed of light going to a Galaxy 10,000 light years away makes the trip to that place 173 days or better than a year round trip. Meaning in a 5 year mission... 4-5 stories. The rest is travel time, BORING. "Warp drive" even if they get it working won't be worth much more than the near by cluster of suns and planets. You best hope they get it to 1000 times that 21,000 times the speed of light.

You realize that the galaxy is 100,000 Ly in diameter don't you? The nearest star system to earth is the Alpha Centauri system at 4.3 Ly. there are thousands of stars within 500 Ly of us. At 21000c it would take 8.5 days to travel 500 ly. There's a lot to see in just that small volume.
Former CAP Captain
David Sinn

Smithsonia

#29
David Sinn;

Thank you. I do know those numbers. Let me know when you get back from your journey to Alpha Centari... and we'll talk. I imagine migration over many millennium is possible. In the same way that man colonized the earth without cars... we had to go old school slow. That is not what I was speaking about. Exceeding the speed of light by 21000 times is what I was speaking about.

In my case the discussion was about what is known. What is unknown. What is possible using what is known. AND, how writers use the magic of storytelling to confuse/suspend belief/or weave a tale for the audience. I can't make it any plainer. Being that I am a writer - I am not confused about what I invent and what I know is true. Gene Roddenberry and Harlan Ellison both despaired about the same. Whitley Strieber does too or does not... but that's another discussion entirely. For further insight please read all of this http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Whitley_Strieber

In the same way that all magicians want to fool and amaze you. Ethics dictates that they tell you it is theatrical magic but it is not real. In the same way fiction writers should ethically defend their own work but never say that it is fact. So I am not studying the Klingon language either.

I am not trying to throw cold water on good SciFi... just point out that their are those who see too much science in their science fiction. Oh look there's a 500 foot tall spider irradiated by the most recent North Korean nuclear bomb test... please pardon me, but I must run for my life now.
With regards;
ED OBRIEN

esilassy

Man, I tried to get a grip on all this math and my brain just slipped out my left ear.  Thanks guys......



Oh and  "KHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!"

ol'fido

#31
Quote from: esilassy on June 10, 2009, 06:11:49 PM
Man, I tried to get a grip on all this math and my brain just slipped out my left ear.  Thanks guys......



Oh and  "KHAN!!!!!!!!!!!!"

Welcome to the Kobiyashu Maru Test! :D :D This is definitely a "no win scenario" that even Kirk couldn't figure out. Darn it, Jim, I'm a doctor not a theoretical physicist.
Lt. Col. Randy L. Mitchell
Historian, Group 1, IL-006

flyerthom

Quote from: Eclipse on June 09, 2009, 06:26:55 AM

I hope that clears things up...


Hey I'm happy when the 182 does 130 knots on RTB!
TC

Gunner C

Quote from: flyerthom on June 11, 2009, 03:16:33 AM
Quote from: Eclipse on June 09, 2009, 06:26:55 AM

I hope that clears things up...


Hey I'm happy when the 182 does 130 knots on RTB!
Speed doesn't have to be FTL to be good.  ;D

SarDragon

"Reality is just a crutch for people who can't handle Science Fiction."

It sez so right here on my button.

YMMV!
Dave Bowles
Maj, CAP
AT1, USN Retired
50 Year Member
Mitchell Award (unnumbered)
C/WO, CAP, Ret

SJFedor

Quote from: flyerthom on June 11, 2009, 03:16:33 AM
Quote from: Eclipse on June 09, 2009, 06:26:55 AM

I hope that clears things up...


Hey I'm happy when the 182 does 130 knots on RTB!

I remember one time I was coming back from a SAREX, and I had a 180kt groundspeed in the 182. I was so excited I could barely contain myself!

Steven Fedor, NREMT-P
Master Ambulance Driver
Former Capt, MP, MCPE, MO, MS, GTL, and various other 3-and-4 letter combinations
NESA MAS Instructor, 2008-2010 (#479)

Spike

Quote from: SJFedor on June 11, 2009, 08:14:10 AM
I remember one time I was coming back from a SAREX, and I had a 180kt groundspeed in the 182. I was so excited I could barely contain myself!

Change of pants needed no doubt!   :o

BrandonKea

Quote from: SJFedor on June 11, 2009, 08:14:10 AM
Quote from: flyerthom on June 11, 2009, 03:16:33 AM
Quote from: Eclipse on June 09, 2009, 06:26:55 AM

I hope that clears things up...


Hey I'm happy when the 182 does 130 knots on RTB!

I remember one time I was coming back from a SAREX, and I had a 180kt groundspeed in the 182. I was so excited I could barely contain myself!

Reminds me of my police ridealong with the trooper who was going 180. THAT required a change of pants...
Brandon Kea, Capt, CAP

T-REA

LOL, not even the speed of sound is the same (fixed) however it was once thought to be. Moreover, 50 years even 10 years ago, the concepts of then, are the norms of today, some at least.

Angus

Quote from: BrandonKea on June 06, 2009, 12:32:23 AM
Now we just wait for 2030 for Zefram Cochrane to be born, and another 33 years on top of that for First Contact.... get a book folks, it could be awhile.

Who's Zefram Cochrane?   
Maj. Richard J. Walsh, Jr.
Director Education & Training MAWG 
 Gill Robb Wilson #4030

swamprat86

Quote from: Angus on October 07, 2009, 02:20:39 PM
Quote from: BrandonKea on June 06, 2009, 12:32:23 AM
Now we just wait for 2030 for Zefram Cochrane to be born, and another 33 years on top of that for First Contact.... get a book folks, it could be awhile.

Who's Zefram Cochrane?

Careful, we have an uninitiated one among us! >:D

Eclipse

Quote from: Angus on October 07, 2009, 02:20:39 PM
Quote from: BrandonKea on June 06, 2009, 12:32:23 AM
Now we just wait for 2030 for Zefram Cochrane to be born, and another 33 years on top of that for First Contact.... get a book folks, it could be awhile.

Who's Zefram Cochrane?

http://tinyurl.com/ycvylgu

"That Others May Zoom"

James Shaw

Quote from: Eclipse on June 09, 2009, 06:26:55 AM
FWIW


In 2007, physicist Richard Obousy proposed that a warp drive could be created by directly manipulating the extra dimensions of string theory.[7] His idea suggests the expansion of space-time is a consequence of the vacuum ground-state of higher dimensional graviton fluctuations. The vacuum energy equations can be expressed as:



In this model, it is the radius of the extra dimensions that directly controls the expansion of space. Obousy suggests that it is superstrings that wrap around the extra dimensions and thusly keeping them compact, but that a sufficiently advanced civilization might influence a string and locally adjust the size of the extra dimension creating a controlled expansion and contraction of the space surrounding an interstellar craft. In July of 2008 it was reported that two Baylor University physicists have outlined how a faster-than-light engine could be created by manipulating the 11th dimension, a special theoretical construct of m-theory.

According to research by Finazzi, Liberati und Barceló the "warp bubble" seems to be unstable.

I hope that clears things up...


That must have been included in the other 90% of the brain we dont use.  ;D ;D ;D
Jim Shaw
USN: 1987-1992
GANG: 1996-1998
CAP:2000 - Current
USCGA:2018 - Current
SGAUS: 2017 - Current

Eclipse

Quote from: caphistorian on October 07, 2009, 02:44:34 PM
I hope that clears things up...[/i]

That must have been included in the other 90% of the brain we dont use. [/quote]

I had dinner with a friend last night who works at one of the major accelerator labs and he was telling us about the increased funding and exciting nature of th research, etc.

To which I replied, "Well, who would actually even know if you're just making it all up?"   ;D

"That Others May Zoom"

Smithsonia

I can see that this thread virtually disappeared into a black hole on June 11th then suddenly blazed back to prominence on Oct. 7th. So are we testing the actual theory or just displaying the results at this moment in time and space in the universe.
With regards;
ED OBRIEN

jimmydeanno

Quote from: Smithsonia on October 07, 2009, 03:11:21 PM
I can see that this thread virtually disappeared into a black hole on June 11th then suddenly blazed back to prominence on Oct. 7th. So are we testing the actual theory or just displaying the results at this moment in time and space in the universe.

Time is finite, but has no boundaries.
If you have ten thousand regulations you destroy all respect for the law. - Winston Churchill

Eclipse

"All this has happened before, and all this will happen again."
                                                           The Sacred Scrolls...

"That Others May Zoom"

Smithsonia

^ Actually I have checked with all the characters acting as me in the 9, 10, or 11 parallel universes and they all agree that I haven't been involved in anything approaching this level of rash speculation ever before.
With regards;
ED OBRIEN

FlyTiger77

Y'all are scary (in a good way....I think)
JACK E. MULLINAX II, Lt Col, CAP

Майор Хаткевич


N Harmon

Quote from: Gunner C on June 11, 2009, 06:54:18 AM
Speed doesn't have to be FTL to be good.  ;D

"We're making good time, with an emphasis on 'good' rather than 'time'."

NATHAN A. HARMON, Capt, CAP
Monroe Composite Squadron

flyboy53

Something to try and get this string back on track, you can't go wrong with Alpha III, especially since you can get them in kits complete with the launching equipment. One of my squadrons (I'm a model rocketry instructor) once ordered Big Berthas by mistake. We made the rocket work by ordering egg-lofting nose cones and worked wonderfully.

For advanced projects, you might want to try and morp rockets. In other words, take a rocket like Mean Machine and make it a multiple stage rocket or combine two Comanche rockets together and you have some interesting rocket launches.

Try scale models or designing payloads with scientific applications. One of the college's out in the midwest built model rockets with chambers containing marbles for atmospheric sampling.

Mr. Spock would be proud!

airmanbooker

Check out my flying blog!
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http://garyisairborne.blogspot.com