Sonny White
of NASA's Johnson Space Center presented his calculations on the
energies required to travel faster than Einstein's famous speed limit:
the speed of light. By White's reckoning, his design of starship -- that
is "adjusted into more of a rounded doughnut, as opposed to a flat
ring" and oscillates the warp intensity -- could be powered by the
approximate mass-energy of the Voyager 1 space probe.
Although "the mass-energy of the Voyager 1 space probe" may not sound
like much, if you convert the 722 kilogram Voyager mass into raw energy
(using Einstein's famous mass-energy equivalence equation: E=mc2), White's warp drive would require 6.5x1019 Joules (65 exajoules) to create a warp bubble. That's nearly the entire annual energy consumption of the United States.
Clearly, this monstrous energy requirement isn't practical, but it's one heck of an improvement over previous estimates.
As described by Eric W. Davis, senior research physicist at the Institute of Advanced Studies in Austin, Texas, and co-author of Frontiers of Propulsion Science, the warp drive can be envisaged as a means of "surfing" through spacetime:
Fill 'er Up with One Jupiter
Although Alcubierre's calculations showed that unimaginably huge
amounts of energy would be needed to create this warp bubble, recently,
Richard Obousy, co-founder and president of Icarus Interstellar (a key partner of the 100YSS), used our new understandings of quantum mechanics and applied them to the warp drive.
Obousy's approach is to manipulate dark energy -- the mysterious
force that appears to permeate the entire Universe, causing it to expand
-- in such a way that extra dimensions (as predicted by string theory)
can facilitate the creation of a bubble of spacetime.
"Given that extra dimensions have not yet experimentally been shown
to exist, and the idea that dark energy is an artifact of these extra
dimensions is somehow related to these dimensions is clearly highly
theoretical," Obousy told Discovery News, "however it provides us with
an interesting perspective from which to examine the problem."
Although this method would theoretically allow a Alcubierre-like
solution to traveling faster than the speed of light, vast amounts of
energy would still be needed -- the approximate mass-energy of Jupiter no less -- but at least it's an improvement from the "all the energy in the Universe" solution.
Referring to White's work, Obousy continued: "The Jupiter calculation
was purposefully created as an 'upper bound' to the problem, and I'm
glad that the work performed by my colleagues has demonstrated ways to
reduce the energy requirements down further."
Tuesday, November 20, 2012
Warp Drive Possible
HOUSTON — A warp drive to achieve faster-than-light travel — a concept
popularized in television's Star Trek — may not be as unrealistic as
once thought, scientists say.
A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster than light. A concept for a real-life warp drive was suggested in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre; however, subsequent calculations found that such a device would require prohibitive amounts of energy.
Now physicists say that adjustments can be made to the proposed warp drive that would enable it to run on significantly less energy, potentially bringing the idea back from the realm of science fiction into science.
Warping space-time
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. [Star Trek's Warp Drive: Are We There Yet? | Video]
Meanwhile, the starship itself would stay inside a bubble of flat space-time that wasn't being warped at all.
"Everything within space is restricted by the speed of light," explained Richard Obousy, president of Icarus Interstellar, a non-profit group of scientists and engineers devoted to pursuing interstellar spaceflight. "But the really cool thing is space-time, the fabric of space, is not limited by the speed of light."
With this concept, the spacecraft would be able to achieve an effective speed of about 10 times the speed of light, all without breaking the cosmic speed limit. The only problem is, previous studies estimated the warp drive would require a minimum amount of energy about equal to the mass-energy of the planet Jupiter.
But recently White calculated what would happen if the shape of the ring encircling the spacecraft was adjusted into more of a rounded donut, as opposed to a flat ring. He found in that case, the warp drive could be powered by a mass about the size of a spacecraft like the Voyager 1 probe NASA launched in 1977.
Furthermore, if the intensity of the space warps can be oscillated over time, the energy required is reduced even more, White found.
"The findings I presented today change it from impractical to plausible and worth further investigation," White told SPACE.com. "The additional energy reduction realized by oscillating the bubble intensity is an interesting conjecture that we will enjoy looking at in the lab."
A warp drive would manipulate space-time itself to move a starship, taking advantage of a loophole in the laws of physics that prevent anything from moving faster than light. A concept for a real-life warp drive was suggested in 1994 by Mexican physicist Miguel Alcubierre; however, subsequent calculations found that such a device would require prohibitive amounts of energy.
Now physicists say that adjustments can be made to the proposed warp drive that would enable it to run on significantly less energy, potentially bringing the idea back from the realm of science fiction into science.
Warping space-time
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. [Star Trek's Warp Drive: Are We There Yet? | Video]
Meanwhile, the starship itself would stay inside a bubble of flat space-time that wasn't being warped at all.
"Everything within space is restricted by the speed of light," explained Richard Obousy, president of Icarus Interstellar, a non-profit group of scientists and engineers devoted to pursuing interstellar spaceflight. "But the really cool thing is space-time, the fabric of space, is not limited by the speed of light."
With this concept, the spacecraft would be able to achieve an effective speed of about 10 times the speed of light, all without breaking the cosmic speed limit. The only problem is, previous studies estimated the warp drive would require a minimum amount of energy about equal to the mass-energy of the planet Jupiter.
But recently White calculated what would happen if the shape of the ring encircling the spacecraft was adjusted into more of a rounded donut, as opposed to a flat ring. He found in that case, the warp drive could be powered by a mass about the size of a spacecraft like the Voyager 1 probe NASA launched in 1977.
Furthermore, if the intensity of the space warps can be oscillated over time, the energy required is reduced even more, White found.
"The findings I presented today change it from impractical to plausible and worth further investigation," White told SPACE.com. "The additional energy reduction realized by oscillating the bubble intensity is an interesting conjecture that we will enjoy looking at in the lab."
Warps Drive
Warp drive is a hypothetical faster-than-light (FTL) propulsion system which a spacecraft equipped with a warp drive may travel at apparent speeds greater than that of light by many orders of magnitude, while circumventing the relativistic problem of time dilation.
Warp drive technology creates an artificial "bubble" of normal space-time that surrounds the spacecraft. Consequently, spacecraft at warp velocity can continue to interact with objects in "normal space".
A valid solution for faster-than-light travel which models the warp drive concept, called the Alcubierre drive, was formulated by physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994. Subsequent calculations found that such a model would require prohibitive amounts of energy. However, it has recently been found that by changing the shape of the warp drive, much less energy could be used, making the idea of a warp drive once again feasible, and NASA scientists have begun preliminary research on such technology.
By using a matter/antimatter reactor to create plasma, and by sending this plasma through warp coils, a warp bubble is created which could be use to move a craft into subspace and hence exceed the speed of light.
Warp engine technology as a 'Gravimetric Field Displacement Manifold' and the device being powered by an anti-matter/matter reaction which powers the two separate nacelles (one on each side of the ship) to create a displacement field (the aforementioned "bubble")
Warp drive velocity in Star Trek is generally expressed in "warp factor" units, which—according to the Star Trek Technical Manuals—correspond to the magnitude of the warp field. Achieving warp factor 1 is equivalent to breaking the light barrier, while the actual velocity corresponding to higher factors is determined using an ambiguous formula.
However, the velocity [in present dimensional units] of any given warp factor is rarely the subject of explicit expression, and travel times for specific interstellar distances are not consistent through the various series.
Warp factors are converted to multiples of c with the cubic function v = w3c, where w is the warp factor, v is the velocity, and c is the speed of light. Accordingly, "warp 1" is equivalent to the speed of light, "warp 2" is 8 times the speed of light, "warp 3" is 27 times the speed of light, etc.
A primary component of the warp drive method of propulsion in the Star Trek universe is the "gravimetric field displacement manifold," more commonly referred to as a warp core. It is a fictional reactor which taps the energy released in a matter-antimatter annihilation to provide the energy necessary to power a starship's warp drive, allowing faster-than-light travel. Starship warp cores generally also serve as powerplants for other primary ship systems.
When matter and antimatter come into contact, they annihilate — both matter and antimatter are converted directly and entirely into enormous quantities of energy, as electromagnetic radiation. In the Star Trek universe, fictional "dilithium crystals" are used to regulate this reaction. These crystals are described as being non-reactive to anti-matter when bombarded with high levels of radiation. Usually, the reactants are deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, and antideuterium (its antimatter counterpart).
The warp core reaction chamber is often referred to as the "dilithium intermix chamber" or the "matter/antimatter reaction chamber", depending upon the ship's intermix type. The reaction chamber is surrounded by powerful magnetic fields to contain the anti-matter. If the containment fields ever fail, the subsequent interaction of the antimatter fuel with the container walls would result in a catastrophic release of energy, with the resultant explosion capable of utterly destroying the ship. Such "warp core breaches" are used as plot devices in many Star Trek episodes.
Warp drive technology creates an artificial "bubble" of normal space-time that surrounds the spacecraft. Consequently, spacecraft at warp velocity can continue to interact with objects in "normal space".
A valid solution for faster-than-light travel which models the warp drive concept, called the Alcubierre drive, was formulated by physicist Miguel Alcubierre in 1994. Subsequent calculations found that such a model would require prohibitive amounts of energy. However, it has recently been found that by changing the shape of the warp drive, much less energy could be used, making the idea of a warp drive once again feasible, and NASA scientists have begun preliminary research on such technology.
By using a matter/antimatter reactor to create plasma, and by sending this plasma through warp coils, a warp bubble is created which could be use to move a craft into subspace and hence exceed the speed of light.
Warp engine technology as a 'Gravimetric Field Displacement Manifold' and the device being powered by an anti-matter/matter reaction which powers the two separate nacelles (one on each side of the ship) to create a displacement field (the aforementioned "bubble")
Warp drive velocity in Star Trek is generally expressed in "warp factor" units, which—according to the Star Trek Technical Manuals—correspond to the magnitude of the warp field. Achieving warp factor 1 is equivalent to breaking the light barrier, while the actual velocity corresponding to higher factors is determined using an ambiguous formula.
However, the velocity [in present dimensional units] of any given warp factor is rarely the subject of explicit expression, and travel times for specific interstellar distances are not consistent through the various series.
Warp factors are converted to multiples of c with the cubic function v = w3c, where w is the warp factor, v is the velocity, and c is the speed of light. Accordingly, "warp 1" is equivalent to the speed of light, "warp 2" is 8 times the speed of light, "warp 3" is 27 times the speed of light, etc.
A primary component of the warp drive method of propulsion in the Star Trek universe is the "gravimetric field displacement manifold," more commonly referred to as a warp core. It is a fictional reactor which taps the energy released in a matter-antimatter annihilation to provide the energy necessary to power a starship's warp drive, allowing faster-than-light travel. Starship warp cores generally also serve as powerplants for other primary ship systems.
When matter and antimatter come into contact, they annihilate — both matter and antimatter are converted directly and entirely into enormous quantities of energy, as electromagnetic radiation. In the Star Trek universe, fictional "dilithium crystals" are used to regulate this reaction. These crystals are described as being non-reactive to anti-matter when bombarded with high levels of radiation. Usually, the reactants are deuterium, an isotope of hydrogen, and antideuterium (its antimatter counterpart).
The warp core reaction chamber is often referred to as the "dilithium intermix chamber" or the "matter/antimatter reaction chamber", depending upon the ship's intermix type. The reaction chamber is surrounded by powerful magnetic fields to contain the anti-matter. If the containment fields ever fail, the subsequent interaction of the antimatter fuel with the container walls would result in a catastrophic release of energy, with the resultant explosion capable of utterly destroying the ship. Such "warp core breaches" are used as plot devices in many Star Trek episodes.
Can we ?
We have achieved a lot since the day technology was found by our predecessors, creating lights, electricity, cars, plane, and others, and it keeps evolving.
From the time people created ship to sail the earth, learn how to navigate, and expand the journey from one continent to one continent.
Then, it`s airplane, flying around the world.
Then, it`s spaceship, flying to the space and land on the moon...
Evolving humans we are, more to the extent of betterment or the worse...
When the story/concept of warp speed were highlighted in science fiction and space opera, would this ever being a reality someday or simply just an imagination or a human myth.
But history did shows that whenever a human being focused to create his own vision and work his way towards it, it can be a reality just like the above example.
Traveling within earth is considered complete, and now we are looking for ways to travel through space, to the moon or to the other galaxy.
But how? When NASA launched the spaceship for project Apollo 13 and the rest, how did they manage to do that ?
Battling the craziest ideas that man can stay alive in space, flying a spaceship to the moon and return back safely?
With proper technology created, understanding of the principles for space science and relativity law etc, engineering issues..etc... can it be ? Yes.
From the time people created ship to sail the earth, learn how to navigate, and expand the journey from one continent to one continent.
Then, it`s airplane, flying around the world.
Then, it`s spaceship, flying to the space and land on the moon...
Evolving humans we are, more to the extent of betterment or the worse...
When the story/concept of warp speed were highlighted in science fiction and space opera, would this ever being a reality someday or simply just an imagination or a human myth.
But history did shows that whenever a human being focused to create his own vision and work his way towards it, it can be a reality just like the above example.
Traveling within earth is considered complete, and now we are looking for ways to travel through space, to the moon or to the other galaxy.
But how? When NASA launched the spaceship for project Apollo 13 and the rest, how did they manage to do that ?
Battling the craziest ideas that man can stay alive in space, flying a spaceship to the moon and return back safely?
With proper technology created, understanding of the principles for space science and relativity law etc, engineering issues..etc... can it be ? Yes.
Space The Final Frontier
Oh Boy, when i was at the age of 14 years old, i somehow had a thoughts that someday the prospects of us being a human traveling through space might became a reality, someday in the future of course.
I even drafted a blueprint based on the star trek series - Enterprise ship.
Then again, that was when i`m still a young boy.
But the thought of such never did left me till today. Our technological terms for space exploration has been on-going non-stop with some discoveries and experiments made to enable the possibility of a next step, a more advance space exploration.
Of course, the challenges is not because of the inavailability of the materials required to achieve or to produce but simply the concept of economics.
We are hindered and being burden by the ' economics system ' that would not allow us to get the proper
experimentation needed to achieve whatever beyond.
For example as the quote of Captain Picard from Star Trek The Next Generations, in future itself coins / money is no longer exist. The people strive towards the betterment of the human civilization at no expense under the terms of cash/money.
As i would say as per above, presently a lot of experiments or expedition are subjective to grants / loans provided by the corporation or government agencies which is to them cost a lot.
With cost and fundings, the experiments can go on.
Without the said cost and fundings, the experiments can`t go on.
With or without cost, the experiements can go on because the materials and resources are always there, basically.
I even drafted a blueprint based on the star trek series - Enterprise ship.
Then again, that was when i`m still a young boy.
But the thought of such never did left me till today. Our technological terms for space exploration has been on-going non-stop with some discoveries and experiments made to enable the possibility of a next step, a more advance space exploration.
Of course, the challenges is not because of the inavailability of the materials required to achieve or to produce but simply the concept of economics.
We are hindered and being burden by the ' economics system ' that would not allow us to get the proper
experimentation needed to achieve whatever beyond.
For example as the quote of Captain Picard from Star Trek The Next Generations, in future itself coins / money is no longer exist. The people strive towards the betterment of the human civilization at no expense under the terms of cash/money.
As i would say as per above, presently a lot of experiments or expedition are subjective to grants / loans provided by the corporation or government agencies which is to them cost a lot.
With cost and fundings, the experiments can go on.
Without the said cost and fundings, the experiments can`t go on.
With or without cost, the experiements can go on because the materials and resources are always there, basically.
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