Warp engines

[wacki]

Fancy a trip through another dimension? New Scientist Space uncovers the curious tale of the rocket driven by quantum gravity

EVERY year, the American Institute of Aeronautics and Astronautics awards prizes for the best papers presented at its annual conference. Last year's winner in the nuclear and future flight category went to a paper calling for experimental tests of an astonishing new type of engine. According to the paper, this hyperdrive motor would propel a craft through another dimension at enormous speeds. It could leave Earth at lunchtime and get to the moon in time for dinner. There's just one catch: the idea relies on an obscure and largely unrecognised kind of physics. Can they possibly be serious?

The AIAA is certainly not embarrassed. What's more, the US military has begun to cast its eyes over the hyperdrive concept, and a space propulsion researcher at the US Department of Energy's Sandia National Laboratories has said he would be interested in putting the idea to the test. And despite the bafflement ...

http://www.newscientist.com/channel/fundam.../mg18925331.200

 

[yhelothar]

Interesting.. if they can get it to work.

 

[Uhtrinity]

Your link may be broke

Take a leap into hyperspace

Really interesting stuff, was discussed somewhat in P&N about a week ago (I suggested it get moved here).

 

[MrDudeMan]

They claim it would take 5 hours roundtrip to the moon. That means this new engine would need to move the ship up to 7.12% of the speed of light, or 21.3km/s. Our fastest vehicle, the shuttle, tops out at 8.04km/s.

At 7.12% of the speed of light, the mass of the spaceship would start to noticeably increase.

 

[SRoode]

I think you lost some decimals there... At the speed of light (186,000 miles/sec), you can reach the moon in less than 2 seconds.

To reach the moon in 2 1/2 hours (or 9000 seconds), you would be traveling at 1/4500 the the speed of light, or 0.02%. No significant time dialations, Lorentz contractions, or mass increases involved...

 

[SRoode]

I read the article. They said 5 hours for a round trip to Mars. So, 7% is about right, depending on how far we are away from Mars at the time of launch.

 

[f95toli]

Originally posted by: SRoode
I read the article. They said 5 hours for a round trip to Mars. So, 7% is about right, depending on how far we are away from Mars at the time of launch.

I think the point is to actually "warp" space. Hence, the distance you actually need to travel will be much shorter than the distance between earth and Mars. This means the speed can be much lower than that.

 

[yhelothar]

I just read the article
The whole thing about rotating magnetic rings sounds like what they made in contact. I'm guessing that's where contact got their ideas from.

 

[imported_Tick]

Originally posted by: virtualgames0
I just read the article
The whole thing about rotating magnetic rings sounds like what they made in contact. I'm guessing that's where contact got their ideas from.

*BARFS ON KEYBOARD*

 

[imported_Tick]

On a more serious note, if this is actually pans out, generations of scifi writers will rise from the grave. On second thought, that actually wasn't more serious. However, I do think that the socioeconomical implications are as great as the technical.

 

[JEDIYoda]

Originally posted by: Tick
On a more serious note, if this is actually pans out, generations of scifi writers will rise from the grave. On second thought, that actually wasn't more serious. However, I do think that the socioeconomical implications are as great as the technical.

Too funny

 

[RaiderJ]

Neat stuff.

 

[Falloutboy]

Originally posted by: f95toli

Originally posted by: SRoode
I read the article. They said 5 hours for a round trip to Mars. So, 7% is about right, depending on how far we are away from Mars at the time of launch.

I think the point is to actually "warp" space. Hence, the distance you actually need to travel will be much shorter than the distance between earth and Mars. This means the speed can be much lower than that.

the way I under stand the idea of a warp drive is the gravitational field will make space infront of the ****** contract and the space behind the ship expand moving the ship forward at very fast speeds

 

[Leafblighter]

nahhhh, rotating magnetic rings is straight outta Event Horizon......

you think we would have learned about the dangers of rotating magnetic rings by now. everybody knows that crazy insane Sam Neil is all we can get out of such a predicament

 

[imported_Tick]

Originally posted by: Leafblighter
nahhhh, rotating magnetic rings is straight outta Event Horizon......

you think we would have learned about the dangers of rotating magnetic rings by now. everybody knows that crazy insane Sam Neil is all we can get out of such a predicament

*HURLS*

 

[sunnpat]

My understanding of this was that they were going to create a sort of ion drive but using gravity as the force generator instead. I dont understand the quantum physics behind it but then again very few people do!

If it were to work, how much energy do you think they would need to get produce a useful force?

Sunny

 

[gsellis]

Originally posted by: f95toli

Originally posted by: SRoode
I read the article. They said 5 hours for a round trip to Mars. So, 7% is about right, depending on how far we are away from Mars at the time of launch.

I think the point is to actually "warp" space. Hence, the distance you actually need to travel will be much shorter than the distance between earth and Mars. This means the speed can be much lower than that.

Which is why I made the Kessel run in under 11 parsecs! Take that and stuff it in your pipe, Han Solo.

 

[HanSolo]

You talking about my pipe kid?

 

[Agent11]

I once watched a documentery about the military paying a theoretical physicist millions of dolars to develop a star-trek like transporter, he wrote alot of papers on the matter before he came to the conclusion that the power needed to do such a thing would be too great, and that we dont have enough knowledge of the sciences involved to begin development.

I would like to see hyperspace travel, but I doubt it will be a reality any time soon.

PS. we already have ion drives.. and plasma, mainly used for satelites.

 

[Molondo]

anyone seen Event horizon? didn't they use magnetic rings on the Core engine? Anyways, nonetheless creapy movie.