Man "invents" hyperspace (warp) engine - US gov't interested

[SP33D]

Seems like a cool idea.. but we don't even know if time is a constant.. so if this ship slips into an alternate dimension, and we figure out how to slow it down..... how can we know how much time will pass while it's in that different dimension?

 

[Dimitrios]

Seems like a cool idea.. but we don't even know if time is a constant.. so if this ship slips into an alternate dimension, and we figure out how to slow it down..... how can we know how much time will pass while it's in that different dimension?

Time is relative here, so the best you'd be able to to would be to include an atomic clock or something that is relative to a "known" constant.

 

[NoRotorNoMotor]

Ludicrous Speed!

 

[anarchistchiken]

Well also the speed of light is the "speed limit" according to the theory of relativity, but as you approach the speed of light, time slows down for you. So if you were in space for a week at near the speed of light, hundreds of years could pass on earth. So there's really no way to know what's going to happen until it's tested.

 

[Captain KRM P5]

Don't magnetic fields affect living things ??? What would this SERIOUSLY intense magnetic field do to a person ???

I guess it could be benficial for unmanned exploration

you'd have to be able to develop a kind of subspace dampening field around the occupants of the craft.

i would think a very powerful energy field that could be modulated very finely would be required to "bend" or "tear" space to make this possible.

 

[Dimitrios]

Well also the speed of light is the "speed limit" according to the theory of relativity, but as you approach the speed of light, time slows down for you. So if you were in space for a week at near the speed of light, hundreds of years could pass on earth. So there's really no way to know what's going to happen until it's tested.

They didn't necessarily say they'd reach light speeds (Mars in 3 days is far longer than the few minutes it takes for reflected light to travel to Earth)....I say it's a near non issue...

 

[vindication]

this is all fine and dandy when assuming things in other dimensions are more favorable than ours. I would like to see this though. But to get feedback here on earth is gonna take a while if this ever happens due to time/mass/distance being relative while traveling on the object going really fast. It just sucks that we cant travel at the speed of light. Hope this has success though

 

[vindication]

They didn't necessarily say they'd reach light speeds (Mars in 3 days is far longer than the few minutes it takes for reflected light to travel to Earth)....I say it's a near non issue...

we cant reach light speeds. we can only get close to them

 

[Dimitrios]

we cant reach light speeds. we can only get close to them

No, I know that. But the current topic suggests exponential increases in speeds, not quantum. So instead of the 18 months it now takes to get to Mars (depending where it is in it's own revolution relative to Earth), we get lesser scale improvements than approaching light.

 

[Canecreekfreak]

Seems like a cool idea.. but we don't even know if time is a constant.. so if this ship slips into an alternate dimension, and we figure out how to slow it down..... how can we know how much time will pass while it's in that different dimension?

Anyone see "Event Horizon"?

 

[melicha8]

Finally a craft to take this white boy to funkytown

 

[anarchistchiken]

They didn't necessarily say they'd reach light speeds (Mars in 3 days is far longer than the few minutes it takes for reflected light to travel to Earth)....I say it's a near non issue...

According to the article it's three hours, not three days. That's still a ways off from the 4 light-minute average distance between Earth and Mars, but according to modern theories, that kind of speed would still require a huge ammount of energy and the time dilation for the people on board the ship would be pretty significant.

 

[Maxx Mazda]

This sounds like a cool idea, but they better do their homework first...

 

[igdrasil]

bah

a couple of mandrel bent pipes and some serious boost and you are done.

 

[igdrasil]

more info here

http://www.damninteresting.com/?p=337#more-337

 

[MiaTurbo]

we can use a flux capacitor to stop it!

ha! I love the Accell spark plug wires.

 

[Breeegz]

"tesseract--a sort of "wrinkle" in space and time."

one step closer to the 5th dimension

 

[Snacks McGee]

It's kinda sad that they've a time machine...but not a hyperspace warp engine.