ALL SCI-FI

[Gord Green]

Since this is Star Trek 50th Anniversary week I thought this article was very appropriate!

So much Star Trek tech has become reality, why not the bassis of the whole thing!

http://www.forbes.com/sites/startswithabang/2016/09/08/star-treks-warp-drive-might-become-a-reality/#7d0fe39c44c5


From FORBES

Star Trek's Warp Drive Might Become A Reality

Ethan Siegel

Most of us alive today have never known a world where human spaceflight didn't exist. Yet before we walked on the Moon, had an International Space Station, sent spacecraft to all the planets and even out of the Solar System, we had Star Trek, which brought even bigger dreams into the public consciousness. Instead of rocket fuel, our ships were powered by antimatter technology. Instead of reaching for the nearest worlds in our own Solar System, we arrived at new planets around distant stars. And instead of breaking the sound barrier, we traveled distances of light years in mere days.

While Star Trek brought us a great many technological advances — and possibilities for what humanity can be as a civilization — perhaps it was the invention of warp drive, which itself enabled us to trek to the stars, that was the most groundbreaking of all.

Since even before the inception of Star Trek, the need to defeat the speed of light seems to be a necessity for human space exploration. Given that even the nearest star to our own Sun — and the next nearest potentially inhabitable world — is more than four light years away, a journey to any other star system would mean that multiple years would pass back on Earth, even if the ship itself took advantage of special relativity to shorten the journey for the crew.

According to Einstein's theory, when you travel close to the speed of light, the distances in your direction-of-motion appear shorter (length contraction) and the rate at which time passes appears to lengthen (time dilation), two of the most counterintuitive and yet well-studied and confirmed consequences of special relativity. If this were all there was to traveling through the Universe, then only the crewmembers traveling at near-light speeds would remain relatively young, while years would pass both at the origin and destination star systems. Interstellar travel would be a generational venture for all but the absolute nearest stars.

But general relativity offers a possible escape from this constraint: through the malleability of spacetime itself. We might be unable to travel through space itself at speeds greater than 299,792,458 m/s, but if we can lessen the actual distances between two locations (or events), then not only could we travel there very quickly from the crew's perspective, but from the perspective of observers at both the source and the destination. Warp drive, as posited 50 years ago, offered a unique realization of such a solution: by distorting (shortening) the space along a starship's direction of motion.

The distortion of space along the direction of motion (in front) of the spacecraft was first put forth in a hand-waving sort of fashion by science fiction writers in the 1960s, with fictitious mechanisms powering it.

Sure, warp drive could effectively shorten a journey across the stars arbitrarily, limited only by how dramatically one could shorten the space in front of you, but would it turn out to be physically possible? It was shown, in 1994, that a solution within General Relativity did in fact exist that led to this exact spacetime behavior.

By shortening the space in front of you and lengthening the space behind you by an equal-and-opposite amount, while creating a stable "bubble" of space inside for your starship to reside in, Miguel Alcubierre showed that warp drive was fully consistent with the laws that govern the fabric of space and time itself. In one fell swoop 22 years ago, the physics behind travel at warp speed — now known as the Alcubierre drive — went from science fiction to plausible science.

In order for the Alcubierre drive to become a reality, a great many practical obstacles still need to be overcome. For one, the most conservative estimate for the energies required to deform any non-empty region of space in this fashion equates to at least 20,000 megatons of TNT, or a ton of mass converted into pure energy via Einstein's E = mc2.

For another, the Alcubierre drive requires the creation of a region of space with an energy that's less than the zero-point energy of space itself, requiring the existence of negative mass (or negative energy) in some form.

While that might seem an insurmountable constraint, as only positive masses and energies are known to exist in this Universe, a setup similar to the Casimir effect, where parallel conducting plates can reduce the effective zero-point energy of the space inside, might provide the required energy conditions. (A solution that was suggested by Alcubierre himself!)

Finally, there isn't a known way to either begin traveling at warp speed or to end your warp-speed travel once it has begun. Clearly, the ability to control your starship requires both of these to be in place! As for practical constraints, if the tremendous tidal forces surrounding the edge of the warp field could be avoided, the ship would simply travel through space, along with the rest of the field, at arbitrarily fast speeds as though it were simply in gravitational free-fall!

If such a technology could be harnessed, it would present tremendous advances on a number of fronts for humanity. For one, we could ship anything — from goods to resources to people — across arbitrarily large distances in arbitrarily small amounts of time.

Messages could be delivered of upcoming catastrophes before a light signal could ever arrive, and violating our traditional notions of causality would become a routine game. But most importantly, the development of this technology would mean that humans alive at the time of development would be able to travel across the galaxy, experiencing other stars, other planets, and, if we're lucky, other civilizations.

In many aspects, this is the most important advance humanity could strive for in achieving the dreams of Star Trek: the ability to literally trek across the stars. And thanks to the progress we've made in understanding one of the deepest laws of physics of all, General Relativity, we've learned that it might actually be possible.

Perhaps, then, there are other Star Trek dreams that might someday become real, too.

Astrophysicist and author Ethan Siegel is the founder and primary writer of Starts With A Bang.

[Pye-Rate]

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NASA to test space drive.

The "IMPOSSIBLE" QUANTUM SPACE ENGINE That Breaks Laws Of Physics Is About To Be Tested In Space


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The road to tomorrow runs through yesterday.

[Gord Green]

New NASA Emdrive paper shows force of 1.2 millinewtons per kilowatt in a Vacuum and a low thrust pendulum and tests were at 40, 60 and 80 watts

A low thrust pendulum at the NASA Johnson space center was used. The best conventional Hall thruster can produce 60 millinewtons per kilowatt which is an order of magnitude more than the emdrive that was tested. Light sails and photon propulsion (zero propellant propulsion) produces two orders of magnitude less the emdrive. 3.33-6.67 micronewtons per kilowatt.

This appears to conclusively prove that emdrive works for propulsion in terms of lab work. The other final thing is to put one into space and see it go a serious distance. More work would be to optimize emdrive and make it more powerful. ...


http://www.nextbigfuture.com/2016/11/new-nasa-emdrive-paper-shows-force-of.html

[Bud Brewster]

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I want the EM drive to work for two reasons: (1) it's an exciting piece of technology, and (2) I love the design this spacecraft!



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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[Gord Green]

That's a beautiful design Bud!

If it checks out. the EMDrive will allow low constant thrust that will allow access to the solar neighborhood in manageable timeframes and possibly open an interstellar window.

Although a propellantless drive, it translates energy into thrust. This energy can come from solar energy sails or nuclear power plants.

Regardless, it's a great potential!

[Bud Brewster]

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Beautiful indeed!





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Is there no man on Earth who has the wisdom and innocence of a child?
~ The Space Children (1958)

[orzel-w]

[Bud Brewster]

[Gord Green]

Actually, two new forms of technology familiar to STAR TREK will have to be developed.

Phasers or some kind of laser to vaporize meteorites, debris or other obstructions that can't be avoided.

Shields, basicly magnetic to divert cosmic, solar and other radiation from the craft.

Another idea may be like a Bussard collector to harvest hydrogen molecules from surrounding space to use as fuel for a fusion power system.

[Bud Brewster]

[Gord Green]

Exactly Bud! Shield technology will be a must.

But, wouldn't it be so kewl to play ASTEROIDS for real?
Ptwing ptwing , BOOM! Neato!

[Gord Green]

UPDATE :

Impossible Spaceship Engine Called "EmDrive" Actually Works, Leaked NASA Report Reveals

When a scientist announced last decade that he'd built a new form of spacecraft propulsion called the EmDrive that didn't require conventional fuel, it sounded too good to be true. But the great thing about science is that you don't have to take someone's findings at their word; you can test it for yourself. NASA did just that — and while the space agency hasn't officially released its findings yet, a leaked copy of NASA's report reveals the EmDrive seems to work as advertised.

The EmDrive, which was demonstrated in 2006 by scientist Roger Shawyer, works by bouncing around microwave radiation within a cone-shaped piece of metal, known as a resonant cavity. Those photons zipping around inside the cavity, in turn, forces the cavity forward — along with anything else attached to it, like a spaceship — as the microwave energy bounces out the wide end.

It's vexed scientists due to the fact that it appears to violate one of the fundamental laws of physics. Based on our current understanding of Newton's Third Law of Motion — you know, every action must have an equal and opposite reaction — the EmDrive shouldn't work, as it doesn't producing a material (as in, made of matter instead of energy) exhaust. Yet as NASA itself apparently discovered...in spite of ole' Isaac's beloved maxim, the EmDrive works indeed. (The report is still awaiting peer review, which is why we're discussing a leaked copy instead of the formally-published version.)

Now, if you're picturing that scene from Iron Man where Tony Stark blows himself away with his own flight stabilizer, don't get ahead of yourself. According to the paper, the experimental engine whipped up 1.2 millinewtons of force per kilowatt of energy. To put that in simple terms, you'd need about 900 times that to make an apple hover in midair under Earth's gravity.

Still, by proving the basic principle is sound, the test seems to demonstrate that a scaled-up version of the EmDrive could be used for propelling spacecraft across the interplanetary vacuum without the cumbersome demands of hauling around massive amounts of fuel — a problem that poses one of the largest logistical issues for engineers planning missions to Mars.

Energy, on the other hand, is fairly cheap in space — all a ship needs to do is stretch out as many solar panels as needed and soak up all the free sunlight it likes. Indeed, with no atmosphere to mute the sun's rays or claw at the bulky panels, panels are more efficient in the vacuum of space than they are here on our planet.

Indeed, the EmDrive could supposedly allow humans to reach Mars in as little as 70 days — far faster than conventional rockets. In which case, Elon Musk's pie-in-the-sky dreams of rapid round-trips to Mars just might work out after all.

https://www.yahoo.com/news/impossible-spaceship-engine-called-emdrive-194534340.html

[Gord Green]

http://nypost.com/2016/11/08/has-nasa-created-a-warp-drive-engine/

The results of a NASA test into "warp drive" technology have been leaked onto the internet — and apparently show it is possible.

The findings appear to be good news — that the new technology that could fly spaceships to Mars, put men on the moon in four hours and make flying cars possible actually works in theory.

The much-anticipated review of EmDrive space propulsion was not supposed to be released until December, according to the International Business Times.

But it was leaked into the Nasa Spaceflight fan forum on Saturday before it was swiftly deleted by the organization — but not before sci-fi fans had caught a glimpse of it.

It is not quite the same as the warp drive on "Star Trek", which would get a spacecraft to the moon in less than a second, but could get it there in an almost as impressive four hours.

The long-awaited review probed the theory behind EmDrive — a technology invented by British scientist and engineer Roger Shawyer.

The leaked info said researchers said the EmDrive system is "consistently performing".

Shawyer has been working on a "thruster" rocker engine that is capable of huge speeds but simply uses liquid hydrogen and solar power.

When talking to the International Business Times about his invention previously, he said: "This technology is a quantum leap — it would enable vertical takeoff and landing for airplanes, it's quiet and it uses liquid hydrogen as a fuel, so it's green too.

"We will go to Mars, but the most important thing is what EmDrive will do for the rest of the world. It will be solar power stations, city-to-city long-haul flights using hydrogen. It's green and convenient and will change our world in the next few decades."

But his critics say it is, in the words of Mr. Spock, "highly illogical", as in order for a thruster to work, something must be pushed out the back to comply with the laws of physics.

But Shawyer says that within his thruster, electricity is converted into microwaves. These microwaves then push against the side of the conical device to move it without the need to expel anything in the opposite direction.

As well as revoluntionizing space and air travel, he reckons the technology could solve the energy crisis and help slow down climate change.

He told the International Business Times: "It's gonna happen and the world will be a better place for it."

[orzel-w]

I hope this isn't just another "cold fusion" goose chase.
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...or not...

WayneO
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[Gord Green]

New from Forbes-

http://www.forbes.com/sites/briankoberlein/2016/11/28/nasas-emdrive-and-the-quantum-theory-of-pilot-waves/#5a31107d1721

While it's clear that a working EM Drive would violate well established scientific theories, what isn't clear is how such a violation might be resolved. Some have argued that the thrust could be an effect of Unruh radiation, but the authors of the new paper argue instead for a variation on quantum theory known as the pilot wave model.

One of the central features of quantum theory is its counter-intuitive behavior often called particle-wave duality. Depending on the situation, quantum objects can have characteristics of a wave or characteristics of a particle. This is due to the inherent limitations on what we can know about quanta.

In the usual Copenhagen interpretation of quantum theory, an object is defined by its wavefunction. The wavefunction describes the probability of finding a particle in a particular location. The object is in an indefinite, probabilistic state described by the wavefunction until it is observed. When it is observed, the wavefunction collapses, and the object becomes a definite particle with a definite location.

While the Copenhagen interpretation is not the best way to visualize quantum objects it captures the basic idea that quanta are local, but can be in an indefinite state. This differs from the classical objects (such as Newtonian theory) where things are both local and definite. We can know, for example, where a baseball is and what it is doing at any given time.

The pilot wave model handles quantum indeterminacy a different way. Rather than a single wavefunction, quanta consist of a particle that is guided by a corresponding wave (the pilot wave). Since the position of the particle is determined by the pilot wave, it can exhibit the wavelike behavior we see experimentally.

In pilot wave theory, objects are definite, but nonlocal. Since the pilot wave model gives the same predictions as the Copenhagen approach, you might think it's just a matter of personal preference. Either maintain locality at the cost of definiteness, or keep things definite by allowing nonlocality.

But there's a catch.

Although the two approaches seem the same, they have very different assumptions about the nature of reality. Traditional quantum mechanics argues that the limits of quantum theory are physical limits. That is, quantum theory tells us everything that can be known about a quantum system.

Pilot wave theory argues that quantum theory doesn't tell us everything. Thus, there are "hidden variables" within the system that quantum experiments can't reveal. In the early days of quantum theory this was a matter of some debate, however both theoretical arguments and experiments such as the EPR experiment seemed to show that hidden variables couldn't exist.

So, except for a few proponents like David Bohm, the pilot wave model faded from popularity. But in recent years it's been demonstrated that the arguments against hidden variables aren't as strong as we once thought. This, combined with research showing that small droplets of silicone oil can exhibit pilot wave behavior, has brought pilot waves back into play
How does this connect to the latest EM Drive research?

In a desperate attempt to demonstrate that the EM Drive doesn't violate physics after all, the authors spend a considerable amount of time arguing that the effect could be explained by pilot waves. Basically they argue that not only is pilot wave theory valid for quantum theory, but that pilot waves are the result of background quantum fluctuations known as zero point energy. Through pilot waves the drive can tap into the vacuum energy of the Universe, thus saving physics! To my mind it's a rather convoluted at weak argument. The pilot wave model of quantum theory is interesting and worth exploring, but using it as a way to get around basic physics is weak tea.

Trying to cobble a theoretical way in which it could work has no value without the experimental data to back it up.

How does this connect to the latest EM Drive research?

In a desperate attempt to demonstrate that the EM Drive doesn't violate physics after all, the authors spend a considerable amount of time arguing that the effect could be explained by pilot waves. Basically they argue that not only is pilot wave theory valid for quantum theory, but that pilot waves are the result of background quantum fluctuations known as zero point energy.

Through pilot waves the drive can tap into the vacuum energy of the Universe, thus saving physics! To my mind it's a rather convoluted and weak argument. The pilot wave model of quantum theory is interesting and worth exploring, but using it as a way to get around basic physics is weak tea. Trying to cobble a theoretical way in which it could work has no value without the experimental data to back it up.

At the very core of the EM Drive debate is whether it works or not, so the researchers would be best served by demonstrating clearly that the effect is real. While they have made some interesting first steps, they still have a long way to go.